DUKE  UNIVERSITY 

WOMAN’S  COLLEGE 
LIBRARY 


GIFT  OF 


Dr.  & Mrs.  H,  Lindholm 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2016 


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DOUBLE  CONSCIOUSNESS 


EXPERIMENTAL  PSYCHOLOGICAL 
STUDIES 


BY 

ALFRED  BINET 


NEW  EDITION 


CHICAGO 

THE  OPEN  COURT  PUBLISHING  COMPANY 

(LONDON:  17  Johnson’s  Court,  Fleet  St.,  E.  C.) 

i8g6 


COPYRIGHT  BY 

The  Open  Court  Publishing  Co. 
1889-90. 


PUBLISHERS’  NOTE. 


Owing  to  the  notable  advancement  of  the  study  of  psychology 
in  the  last  few  years,  and  to  the  increasing  intimate  co-operation  of 
inquirers  in  all  countries,  the  remarks  at  the  close  of  M.  Binet’s 
Introductory  Essay,  at  page  13,  although  probably  true  at  the  time 
of  their  writing,  hardly  characterize  the  situation  at  present  (i8g6). 
The  recent  lamented  death  of  Professor  Charcot  is  also  to  be  noted 
in  reading  the  essay  on  the  state  of  experimental  psychology  in 
France. 


\ 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS. 


PAGE 


Introductory.  Experimental  Psychology  in  France  . . . i 

Proof  of  Double  Consciousness  in  Hysterical  Individuals  . lo 
The  Relations  Between  the  Two  Consciousnesses  of  Hysterical 
Individuals  . . . . . . . . .19 

The  Hysterical  Eye  ........  30 

Mechanism  or  Subconsciousness  ? . . . . . .38 

The  Graphic  Method  and  the  Doubling  of  Consciousness  . 44 

The  Intensity  of  Subconscious  States  . . . . .56 

The  Role  of  Suggestion  in  Phenomena  of  Double  Conscious- 
ness ..........  68 

Double  Consciousness  in  Health  . , . . . .76 


INTRODUCTORY. 


EXPERIMENTAL  PSYCHOLOGY  IN  FRANCE. 


It  is  known  that  of  late  years,  in  France,  a great 
scientific  movement  has  come  about  in  favor  of  experi- 
mental psychology.  While  the  professors  of  our  High 
Schools  and  Universities  are  continuing  to  teach  an 
antiquated  science,  whose  only  method  is  that  of  in- 
trospection, there  has  arisen  on  all  sides  in  the  philo- 
sophical reviews,  and  even  in  journals  strictly  medical, 
a body  of  work  in  which  the  investigation  of  mental 
phenomena  is  conducted  according  to  the  methods  of 
natural  science.  Incontestably,  the  forerunner  of  this 
activity  in  psychological  inquiry  was  M.  Taine,  who 
published  in  1869  an  important  treatise  upon  “The 
Understanding.”  With  remarkable  penetration  M. 
Taine  foresaw,  to  a certain  extent,  the  most  import- 
ant results  obtained  in  recent  years.  Thus,  the  entire 
chapter  upon  “ Images  ” may  still  be  consulted  with 
profit. 

The  real  inaugurator  of  the  psychological  move- 
ment proper,  is  M.  Ribot.  The  psychologists  of 
France  owe  much  to  M.  Ribot.  Without  him,  with- 
out the  Review*  which  he  founded,  without  the  work 


* The  Revue  Philosopkique. 


ON  DOUBLE  CONSCIOUSNESS. 


and  results  of  foreign*  investigation  which  he  has 
made  known  in  France,  many  scientists  would  never 
have  thought  of  devoting  their  attention  to  psycholog- 
ical research.  Further,  by  instituting  a chair  at  the 
Sorbonne,  and  subsequently,  at  a more  recent  date, 
at  the  College  de  France,  M.  Ribot  has  helped  to  give 
an  official  consecration,  in  our  country,  to  the  study 
of  experimental  psychology.  Finally,  some  few  years 
past,  in  conjunction  with  M.  Charcot,  M.  Ribot 
founded  a Society  of  Physiological  Psychology  which 
now  counts  more  than  fifty  active  members.  In  draw- 
ing together  men  of  different  professions,  in  bringing 
the  psychologist  into  communication  with  the  physiol- 
ogist, the  physician,  the  alienist,  the  mathematician, 
and  the  linguist,  that  society  has  fathered  a great 
number  of  important  productions  and  substantially 
contributed  to  the  development  of  the  science  of 
psychology. 

The  personal  work  of  M.  Ribot  is  contained  in  four 
valuable  monographs  upon  the  Diseases  of  Memory, 
of  Will,  of  Personality,  and  upon  the  Psychology  of 
Attention.  We  are  informed,  moreover,  that  the 
author  has  been  at  work  for  some  time  past,  upon  the 
phenomena  of  emotion,  and  that  he  will  perhaps  pub- 
lish, some  day,  a monograph  upon  that  attractive 
topic. 

It  would  be  difficult  to  characterize  the  work  of  M. 
Ribot  in  a few  words.  We  may  say,  however,  that 
he  has  constantly  endeavored  to  stand  upon  the  ground- 
work of  facts,  entertaining  a horror  of  metaphysics 
that  is  perhaps  exaggerated.  Not  a metaphysician, 
he  is  neither  materialist,  nor  spiritualist,  nor  monist — 

* The  experimental  psychology  of  England  and  the  experimental  psychol- 
ogy of  Germany. 


EXPERIMENTAL  PSYCHOLOGY  IN  PRANCE,  3 


nor  anything  of  the  kind.  He  has  little  love  for  great 
systems,  and  rightly  gives  precedence  to  little  facts, 
accurately  observed  and  minutely  described.  I be- 
lieve, with  him,  that  the  future  of  psychology  lies  not 
in  great  theories,  but  in  little  facts.  Respecting  the 
relations  of  the  physical  and  the  spiritual,  he  regards 
the  matter  as  a simple  concordance,  without  further 
going  into  the  problem  ; he  has  frequently  compared 
the  state  of  consciousness  to  a state  superadded, 
which  in  no  shape  modifies  physiological  processes, 
and  which  acts  like  a shadow  opposite  a body.  He 
affirms,  in  different  places,  that  an  unconscious  phe- 
nomenon is  nothing  else  than  a purely  physiological 
phenomenon.  It  will  be  thought,  perhaps,  that  de- 
spite the  repugnance  of  M.  Ribot  to  metaphysics,  a 
certain  metaphysical  character  attaches  to  the  ideas 
just  noticed.  I believe,  in  fact,  that  we  know  adso- 
lutely  nothhig  regarding  the  nature  of  unconscious 
phenomena. 

The  succeeding  essays  of  this  little  book,  however, 
will  be  devoted  to  the  investigation  of  the  latter  phe- 
nomena in  their  relation  to  double  consciousness  ; and 
I shall  there  briefly  present  the  experiments  made  by 
M.  Pierre  Janet  and  by  myself  (the  latter  not  yet  pub- 
lished) upon  the  signification  of  unconscious  phe- 
nomena. 

The  method  employed  by  M.  Ribot  in  his  admir- 
able monographs,  consists  in  elucidating  the  mechan- 
ism of  the  normal  state  by  recourse  to  mental  pathol- 
ogy. M.  Ribot  is  neither  a physician,  nor  an  observer  ; 
the  pathological  data  which  he  makes  use  of  are 
always  second-hand  ; but  with  an  unusually  extensive 
range  of  knowledge  he  unites  great  discernment  in  the 
selection  and  interpretation  of  facts.  And,  besides, 


4 


ON  DOUBLE  CONSCIOUSNESS. 


he  presents  his  psychological  conclusions  in  language 
so  clear  and  precise,  as  to  form  a happy  contrast  to 
the  terminology  of  the  classic  philosophers. 

In  his  studies  in  pathological  psychology,  the  point 
to  which  he  has  given  especial  prominence,  is  the  law 
of  mental  dissolution.  This  law  can  be  regarded  as 
the  key-stone  of  the  structure  he  has  reared.  He  has 
very  correctly  observed,  and  better  than  had  been 
done  before  him,  that  there  are  stable  states — strongly 
organized,  resistive  ; and  weak  states — unstable,  arti- 
ficial, and  easily  lost.  For  instance,  in  memory,  the 
stable  states  are  the  simple  and  common  movements 
of  adaptation ; the  more  complex  are  the  delicate 
movements  of  professional  activity,  the  special  mem- 
ories. In  the  will,  the  stable  and  resistive  are  the 
simple  impulses,  having  their  origin  in  an  organic 
state,  as  hunger,  thirst ; the  less  stable  are  the  com- 
plex determinations  of  volition,  in  combination  with 
mobile  moral  elements,  such  as  duty,  or  remote  inter- 
est. In  attention,  the  stable  is  spontaneous  attention, 
kept  alert  by  an  active  sensation  ; the  weak  is  volun- 
tary attention  and  reflection.  Now  M.  Ribot  has 
shown,  that  in  progressive  mental  dissolutions,  the 
progression  invariably  follows  the  same  order  ; it  pro- 
ceeds from  the  less  stable  to  the  more  stable  ; from 
the  more  delicately  organized  to  the  less  delicately 
organized  ; from  the  higher  to  the  lower.  In  sub- 
stance, this  is  a great  law  of  general  pathology,  of 
which  M.  Ribot  has  made  a happy  application  to 
psychology. 

By  the  side  of  M.  Ribot  we  shall  place  M.  Char- 
cot, the  eminent  professor  of  the  Salpetriere,  who  by 
his  studies  of  nervous  diseases  has  taken,  of  late,  a 
prominent  position  in  psychological  science.  It  is  M. 


EXPERIMENTAL  PSYCHOLOGY  IN  ERANCE. 


5 


Charcot  who  took  the  initiative  in  founding  the  So- 
ciety of  Physiological  Psychology ; he  is  president 
for  life  of  that  society.  M.  Charcot  has  written  no 
special  treatise  upon  psychology : in  fact,  he  writes 
but  very  little.  Aside  from  a few  productions  in  con- 
junction with  his  pupils,  the  only  works  that  we  have 
from  him  are  the  reports  of  his  lectures  at  the  Sal- 
petriere.  In  these  lectures  the  psychological  method 
is  frequently  introduced,  whenever  the  theme  demands 
an  explication  of  the  complicated  web  of  psychical 
phenomena.  We  shall  cite,  by  way  of  instance,  the 
lectures  upon  hystero-traumatic  paralysis,  wherein 
the  eminent  professor  has  firmly  established  the  in- 
fluence of  the  idea  upon  motory  disturbances ; and 
further  mention  must  be  made  of  the  admirable  lec- 
tures upon  aphasia,  wherein  the  psychology  of  lan- 
guage has  been  so  happily  resorted  to  in  explanation 
of  the  diseases  of  that  important  cerebral  function. 

A former  pupil  of  M.  Charcot,  M.  Charles  Richet, 
at  present  professor  of  physiology  in  the  Faculty  of 
Medicine  at  Paris,  has  contributed  to  the  advance- 
ment of  experimental  psychology  in  France  by  a con- 
siderable number  of  original  works.  After  1870,  M. 
Richet  was  the  first  investigator  to  reinaugurate  the 
study  of  hypnotism  ; he  was,  likewise,  the  first  to  see 
in  these  studies  a field  of  psychological  research,  “a 
method  of  intellectual  and  moral  vivisection.”  Among 
the  phenomena  of  suggestion  there  are  several  that 
belong  to  him  especially ; thus,  he  was  the  first  to 
show  that  the  personality  of  a subject  put  to  sleep 
may  be  transformed,  and  every  remembrance  of  the 
true  personality  effaced,  by  suggestion,  from  his 
memory,  and  a fictitious  personality  substituted.  He 
has  also  propounded  quite  ingenious  ideas  upon  the 


6 


ON  DOUBLE  CONSCIOUSNESS. 


phenomena  of  unconsciousness;  he  has  brought  out 
the  fact,  that  in  hysterical  persons  and  in  a great  many 
individuals  reputed  normal,  there  exists  a sort  of  a 
permanent  semi-somnambulism  ; in  other  words,  there 
is,  in  these  subjects,  an  unconscious  ego,  an  uncon- 
scious activity,  which  is  constantly  on  the  watch, 
which  contemplates,  which  gives  attention,  which  re- 
flects, which  forms  inferences,  and  lastly  which  per- 
forms acts — all  unknown  to  the  conscious  ego.  Finally, 
M.  Richet  has  published,  during  recent  years,  in  the 
Revue  Philosophique,  of  which  he  is  an  assiduous  asso- 
ciate contributor,  a long  essay  upon  “ Mental  Sugges- 
tion,” which  has  attracted  considerable  notice.  His 
researches  tend  to  the  conclusion,  which  the  author 
regards  as  probable,  that  thought  is  transmitted  from 
one  brain  to  another  without  the  intervention  of  signs 
appreciable  to  our  senses.  The  proof,  the  author 
himself  confesses,  is  not  complete.  M.  Richet  arrives 
at  a probability  merely.  The  numerous  treatises  that 
have  been  published  in  France  upon  this  subject,  are 
to  be  attributed  to  the  impetus  given  to  the  question 
by  the  article  of  M.  Richet. 

Another  pupil  of  M.  Charcot,  M.  F^r6,  now  physi- 
cian at  the  Bicetre,  has  distinguished  himself  in  recent 
years  by  his  many  researches  in  experimental  psychol- 
ogy, the  subjects  of  which  have  been  principally  phe- 
nomena of  hysteria.  In  conjunction  with  me,  M. 
F^r^  first  entered  upon  a course  of  investigations  in 
hypnotism  and  allied  subjects.  Our  work  together, 
which  still  continues,  has  produced  as  its  main  result 
a book  upon  “Animal  Magnetism,”  in  which  this  sub- 
ject is  treated  of  particularly  as  a branch  of  psychol- 
ogy. In  this  line  of  ideas,  M.  F6r6  has  made  an 
especial  study  of  hallucinations,  and  of  systematic 


EXPERIMENTAL  PSYCHOLOGY  IN  FRANCE. 


7 


anesthesia  and  paralysis.  The  investigations  referred 
to  have  occasioned  a great  deal  of  controversy  in  the 
circles  known  as  the  School  of  Nancy.  The  physicians 
of  Nancy  have  called  in  question  certain  conclusions 
reached  by  the  School  of  Salpetriere  ; but  it  must  be 
remarked,  that  as  regards  the  facts  of  suggestion  all 
discussions  that  have  arisen  have  related  only  to  ver- 
bal differences. 

M.  Fer6  has  lately  pursued,  in  ingenious  experi- 
ments upon  hysterical  and  hyper-excitable  subjects, 
investigations  upon  the  psychology  of  movements. 
He  has  shown  that  the  quantity  of  movement  pro- 
duced depends  upon  the  nature  of  the  sensation. 
Every  sensory  excitation,  for  instance  the  sight  of  a 
red  square,  at  first  induces  an  augmentation  of  force 
— a dynamogeny — measurable  on  the  dynamometer  ; 
then,  according  as  the  excitation  is  prolonged,  the 
force  diminishes,  and  dynamogeny  gives  way  to  en- 
feeblement.  Such,  in  rude  outlines,  are  the  experi- 
men\:s  in  psycho-mechanics  by  which  M.  F6r6  has  es- 
tablished a quantitative  relation  between  sensations 
and  movements. 

We  are  obliged  to  be  brief  in  the  present  sketch  of 
French  psychologists.  In  conclusion,  therefore,  we 
shall  simply  note  the  names  of  M.  Espinas,  who  has 
published  valuable  studies  upon  animal  communities  ; 
Bernard  Perez,  who  has  given  to  the  world  several 
attractive  volumes  upon  the  psychology  of  infants ; 
Pierre  Janet,  to  whom  we  owe  the  highly  ingenious 
investigations  into  unconscious  manifestations  of  mind; 
Egger,  known  through  his  highly  interesting  study  of 
internal  audition,  auto-observation  ; Beaunis,  who  has 
written  upon  inhibitions,  upon  hypnotism,  upon  the 
muscular  sense,  etc. 


8 


ON  DOUBLE  CONSCIOUSNESS. 


Accordingly,  as  may  be  gathered  from  the  preced- 
ing sketch,  there  is  not,  in  France,  a of  psychol- 

ogy ; there  are  no  masters  and  disciples ; there  is  not 
a body  of  accepted  doctrines.  We  all  work  upon  our 
own  individual  score,  without  being  subject  to  any 
common  word  of  command  ; we  are  dispersed,  like 
skirmishers,  upon  the  field  of  research.  In  his  inaugu- 
ral lecture  at  the  College  de  France,  M.  Ribot  cor- 
rectly stated  that  the  characteristic  mark  of  French 
psychological  research  was  the  production  of  mono- 
graphs. We  possess,  in  fact,  a certain  number  of  ex- 
perimental studies  upon  special  subjects.  We  have  no 
universal  work,  discussing,  even  in  brief,  the  entire 
province  of  psychology.  M.  Ribot,  in  adverting  to 
this  want,  said  that  two  years  would  be  demanded  to 
prepare  a treatise  upon  French  psychology,  and  that, 
probably,  by  reason  of  the  rapid  advances  being  made 
in  our  knowledge  of  this  subject,  when  the  treatise 
were  finished,  it  would  no  longer  be  available  for  cur- 
rent use. 

This  being  the  character  of  French  psychology,  it 
would  be  very  difficult  to  state  the  opinions  upon 
which  any  great  number  of  thinkers  of  our  country  have 
united.  How  do  we  know,  for  instance,  the  views  of 
M.  Charcot  upon  Personality,  when  he  has  not  as  yet 
had  occasion  to  express  himself  upon  that  point  ? All 
that  we  can  do  is  to  endeavor  to  bring  into  relief  the 
main  tendencies  of  French  psychological  inquiry  and 
to  indicate  the  methods  preferentially  employed. 

With  relatively  few  exceptions,  the  psychologists 
of  my  country  have  left  the  investigations  of  psycho- 
physics to  the  Germans,  and  the  study  of  comparative 
psychology  to  the  English.  They  have  devoted  them- 
selves almost  exclusively  to  the  study  of  pathological 


EXPERIMENTAL  PSYCHOLOGY  IN  PRANCE. 


9 


psychology,  that  is  to  say  psychology  affected  by  dis- 
ease. Such,  if  I do  not  mistake  it,  is  the  foremost 
feature  of  our  work  in  psychology.  One  need  only 
glance  at  the  titles  of  the  principal  original  treatises  of 
M.  Ribot  to  note  that  they  treat  of  pathological  condi- 
tions : Diseases  of  Memory,  of  Will,  of  Personality, 

etc.  All  the  other  authors  have  followed  his  example; 
they  have  sought  in  the  pathology  of  the  mind  or  in 
the  pathology  of  nervous  action,  the  data  to  render 
intelligible  the  mechanism  of  the  normal  state.  The 
marked  favor  that  studies  in  hypnotism  have  met  with 
in  France,  is  a further  proof  of  the  preponderance  ac- 
quired by  pathological  psychology.  The  results  ob- 
tained by  the  systematic  employment  of  the  patholog- 
ical and  clinical  methods,  have  been  extensive  ; but  at 
the  present  time  they  yet  remain  scattered  in  a mass 
of  reports  accessible  only  to  specialists.  Consequently, 
these  results  are  almost  unknown  to  the  psychologists 
of  foreign  countries.  Thus  is  explained  a circum- 
stance that  does  not  fail  to  excite  surprise.  Although 
it  is  well  established  that  pathology  has  furnished 
psychology  with  the  most  recent  and  the  most  numer- 
our  results,  yet  the  works  upon  psychology  appearing 
in  Germany,  in  Italy,  in  England,  and  in  America, 
and  which  pretend  to  give  a complete  picture  of  the 
present  state  of  psychological  research,  say  almost 
nothing  of  the  investigations  of  mental  and  nervous 
pathology.  The  scientific  work,  really  French,  is  not 
recognized,  and  is  practically  suppressed. 


PROOF  OF  DOUBLE  CONSCIOUSNESS  IN 
HYSTERICAL  INDIVIDUALS. 


The  psychologists  of  France,  during  the  past  few 
years,  have  been  diligently  at  work  studying  the  phe- 
nomena of  double  consciousness  and  double  person- 
ality in  hysterical  individuals.  The  same  problems  have 
also  been  the  subject  of  numerous  investigations  in 
foreign  countries,  especially  in  England  and  in  Amer- 
ica ; and  the  phenomena  of  automatic  writing,  which 
are  now  so  often  described  in  the  scientific  periodicals 
of  both  the  above-mentioned  countries,  are  evidently 
due  to  that  doubling  of  personality  which  is  so  mani- 
fest in  a vast  number  of  hysterical  people. 

I wish  to  devote  a series  of  articles  to  these  prob- 
lems, which  are  of  such  high  importance  to  the  psy- 
chology of  normal  states  as  well  as  to  the  psychology  of 
nervous  diseases.  After  briefly  recurring  to  the  results 
of  former  studies,  published  in  the  Revue  Philoso- 
phique,  the  Archives  de  Physiologie,  and  in  the  Comptes 
rendus  de  V Academie  des  Sciences,  I shall  set  forth,  with 
more  or  less  extensiveness,  my  recent  observations. 

In  approaching  so  delicate  a subject  we  must  in  the 
first  instance  insist  upon  a question  of  method.  When 
we  undertake  to  expound  such  strange  phenomena  as 
those  of  the  doubling  of  consciousness,  at  the  first  blush 
we  naturally  provoke  astonishment  and  even  doubt. 
In  truth,  is  not  the  idea  extraordinary,  that  in  hys- 


PROOF  OF  DOUBLE  CONSCIOUSNESS.  ii 

terical  individuals  there  should  exist  two  distinct  per- 
sonalities, two  egos  united  in  the  same  person  ? I 
have  frequently  had  occasion  to  speak  of  the  doubling 
of  consciousness  to  persons  who  were  unfamiliar  with 
science,  and  even  to  physicians,  and  I can  verify  the 
fact,  that  people  as  a rule  regard  the  phenomena  in 
question  as  highly  doubtful  \ for  they  imagine  that  there 
do  not  yet  exist  precise  experiments  adequate  to  es- 
tablish this  duplication  of  personality.  In  fact,  in  or- 
der to  recognize  and  admit  exceedingly  delicate  in- 
tellectual perturbations  of  this  order,  we  must  be  pre- 
sented with  objective,  palpable,  and  actual  evidence 
of  their  existence.  The  experimentalist  must  strive 
not  only  to  discover  the  psychological  phenomena  which 
explain  so  many  manifestations  of  mental  alienation, 
but  he  must  also,  and  with  equal  care,  seek  the  method 
of  experiment  that  commands  conviction  and  that  ren- 
ders such  phenomena  clear  and  evident  to  everybody. 

The  idea  of  such  a method  has  guided  me  from  my 
earliest  researches,  and  I have  particularly  endeavored 
to  discover  the  simplest  possible  experiments,  such  as 
might  be  repeated  at  the  bedside  of  patients  without 
previous  preparation  by  any  physician  that  might  be 
first  called  in.  It  is  doubtless  interesting  to  know, 
that  at  the  present  day  we  possess  the  means  of  clearly 
exhibiting  the  duality  of  persons  in  hysterical  patients, 
without  being  obliged  to  resort  to  the  hypnotizing  of 
our  subjects  or  to  submitting  them  to  any  complex  and 
ill-defined  influences.  The  patient,  in  the  normal  con- 
dition, is  almost  as  if  awake,  and  the  process  employed 
to  reveal  the  two  personalities  which  he  contains  is 
as  direct  and  as  simple  as  that  which  consists  of  count- 
ing the  beatings  of  his  pulse. 

Before  presenting  the  recent  researches  that  I have 


12 


ON  DOUBLE  CONSCIOUSNESS. 


made,  I believe  it  profitable  first  to  recapitulate  the 
processes  of  investigation  employed.  I may  add  that 
the  results  that  I have  obtained,  have  been  fully  con- 
firmed by  the  researches  of  other  authors,  among  whom 
I shall  cite  my  friend,  M.  Pierre  Janet,  who  has  re- 
cently published  a very  interesting  work  upon  this 
topic.* 

In  performing  our  experiment  we  must  have  re- 
course to  hysterical  patients  who  in  certain  parts  of 
the  body  present  a more  or  less  extended  region  of  in- 
sensibility (anaesthesia).  N othing  is  more  common  than 
hysterical  anaesthesia.  At  times  it  will  appear  in  the 
form  of  small  islets,  of  small  spots  irregularly  scattered 
about.  An  hysterical  patient,  for  example,  may  ex- 
hibit a small  anaesthetical  spot  in  the  palm  of  his  hand. 
On  forcing  a pin  into  this  spot,  or  pinching  the  skin, 
or  burning  it,  the  subject  will  not  experience  the 
slightest  sensation  of  contact,  or  sensation  of  pain ; 
while,  nevertheless,  a few  centimeters  away  from  it 
the  same  excitations  will  produce  a very  keen  and  pain- 
ful reaction.  With  other  patients  the  anaesthesia  re- 
veals a more  regular  distribution  ; it  may,  for  example, 
comprise  an  entire  limb,  as  an  arm  which  has  become 
insensible  from  the  extremity  of  the  fingers  to  the 
shoulder-joint.  With  other  patients  the  distribution 
of  insensibility  is  even  still  more  remarkable ; the 
patient  is  divided  into  two  halves  by  a vertical  plane 
extending  through  the  breast  to  the  back,  so  that  one 
half  of  his  body — head,  trunk,  arm,  and  leg — is  com- 
pletely insensible,  while  the  half  corresponding  pre- 
serves its  normal  sensibility.  Finally,  it  is  not  rare  to 
meet  with  hysterical  persons  whose  insensibility  ex- 
tends to  the  entire  body ; but  in  such  cases  the  insen- 


* L’automatisme  psychologique.  Paris  : 1889.  F.  Alcan. 


PROOF  OF  DOUBLE  CONSCIOUSNESS. 


13 


sibility  is  generally  more  marked  in  one  half  of  the 
body  than  in  the  other. 

Let  us  now  turn  to  a patient  exhibiting  an  insensi- 
bility extending  to  an  entire  limb.  Let  us  fiist  assure 
ourselves  by  means  of  a few  painful  tests  that  this  in- 
sensibility is  not  simulated.  Several  means  are  adapt- 
able for  this  purpose.  Thus,  whenever  a patient 
feigns  the  loss  of  sensibility,  if,  without  warning  him, 
we  suddenly  excite  his  skin  from  behind  a screen  and 
he  betrays  a movement  of  surprise,  it  is  a proof  that 
he  has  felt  the  sensation.  When  we  allow  an  electric 
current  of  increasing  intensity  to  pass  through  his 
limb,  there  certainly  must  arrive  a moment,  in  which 
the  pain  is  so  intense  that  he  cannot  any  longer  endure 
it.  But  genuine  insensibility  will  come  out  victorious 
from  all  such  tests.  Let  us  add  that  with  hysterical 
individuals  the  power  of  pressure  upon  the  dynamom- 
eter, in  the  insensible  members,  is  generally  weak- 
ened, and  that  the  time  of  physiological  reaction  is 
prolonged.  The  tests  described,  accordingly,  maybe 
regarded  as  sufficiently  numerous  and  competent  to  de- 
feat any  attempt  at  imposition. 

I suppose,  now,  that  we  are  occupied  with  a pa- 
tient who  exhibits  a genuine  anaesthesia,  controlled  by 
all  the  clinical  tests  which  the  modern  physician  has 
at  his  command.  I shall  take  for  granted,  further,  that 
this  insensibility,  limited  to  a single  limb, — the  right 
arm,  for  example, — affects  all  the  tissues  of  the  limb  ; 
that  not  only  the  skin,  but  muscles,  tendons,  and  ar- 
ticular surfaces  have  lost  all  trace  of  sensibility.  The 
patient  feels  neither  puncture  nor  compression  ; neither 
pinching,  faradization,  nor  passive  movements  im- 
pressed upon  his  limb,  when  we  have  taken  care  to 


14 


ON  D O UBLE  CO  NSC  10  USNESS. 


hide  from  him  the  sight  of  his  limb  by  the  interposi- 
tion of  a screen. 

Under  the  above-mentioned  conditions  the  ex- 
perimentalist seizes  a finger  of  the  insensible  hand, 
and  impresses  upon  the  finger  in  question  alternate 
movements  of  flexion  and  of  extension ; the  patient, 
be  it  understood,  not  being  able  to  see  his  own  hand, 
does  not  know  what  is  being  done  to  him ; he  does 
not  know  whether  they  are  bending  or  stretching  one 
of  his  fingers.  Nevertheless,  it  frequently  happens  that 
the  finger  thus  manipulated  spontaneously  continues 
the  movement  which  the  experimentalist  has  im- 
pressed upon  it ; we  may  observe  that  it  bends  and 
straightens  out  again  five  or  six  times.  The  very 
same  thing  would  happen  if  we  had  caused  the  wrist 
or  elbow  to  perform  passive  movements. 

Now,  what  does  this  experiment  prove,  which 
admittedly  is  very  simple  and  easy  of  repetition? 
Evidently,  in  order  that  the  finger  should  spontaneous- 
ly repeat  the  movement  that  has  once  been  impressed 
upon  it,  it  is  necessary  that  the  movement  in  ques- 
tion should  have  been  perceived.  The  patient  never- 
theless declares  that  he  has  not  felt,  or  experienced, 
anything  in  his  finger.  We  must,  accordingly,  sup- 
pose that  an  unconscious  perception  of  the  movement 
has  been  produced ; there  doubtless  has  been  a per- 
ception j the  perception  has  engendered  a similar 
movement — this  too  seems  evident ; but  neither  the 
sensation  nor  its  motory  effect  have  entered  within 
the  circle  of  the  subject’s  consciousness.  This  little 
psycho-motory  performance  has  been  accomplished 
without  his  knowledge,  and  so  to  speak,  quite  outside 
of  him. 

Let  us  complicate  our  experiment  a little,  in 


PROOF  OF  DOUBLE  CONSCIOUSNESS. 


15 


order  the  better  to  understand  it.  The  eyes  of  the  sub- 
ject are  throughout  kept  concealed  behind  a screen. 
We  now  place  some  familiar  object  into  the  insen- 
sible hand  ; for  instance,  we  thrust  a pen-holder  or  a 
pencil  between  the  thumb  and  the  index-finger.  As 
soon  as  the  contact  takes  place  the  two  fingers  draw 
together,  as  if  to  seize  the  pen  ; the  other  fingers  bend 
half-way,  the  wrist  leans  sideways,  and  the  hand  as- 
sumes the  attitude  necessary  to  write.  In  the  same 
manner  by  introducing  the  thumb  and  index-finger 
within  the  rings  of  a pair  of  scissors  we  cause  the  sub- 
ject to  perform  the  movements  of  one  who  wishes  to 
cut.  These  experiments,  of  course,  may  be  varied  in- 
definitely ; further  instances,  however,  would  be 
superfluous ; the  two  given  amply  suffice  for  the  pur- 
poses of  our  analysis. 

Here  also  the  entire  transaction  takes  place  out- 
side the  consciousness  of  the  subject;  the  pen-holder 
was  seized  by  the  anaesthetic  hand,  without  the  sub- 
ject’s perceiving,  in  a conscious  manner,  any  contact, 
and  without  his  knowing  that  he  held  a pen-holder  in 
his  hand.  Now,  this  very  simple  act,  performed  by 
the  hand,  is  an  act  of  adaptation  ; it  implies,  not  only 
that  the  object  has  been  felt,  but  also  that  this  object 
has  been  recognized  as  a pen-holder,  for  if  the  object 
had  been  a different  one  a different  act  of  adaptation 
would  have  taken  place.  In  this  manner,  the  sen- 
sation must  be  said  to  have  provoked  an  uncon- 
scious perception,  an  unconscious  reasoning,  an  un- 
conscious volition.  In  short,  the  event  happened  just 
as  if  the  pen-holder  had  been  thrust  into  the  sensible 
hand ; as  if  the  subject  had  felt  the  object,  had 
recognized  it  and  decided  to  write ; with  the  sole 


i6 


ON  DOUBLE  CONSCIOUSNESS. 


difference,  however,  that  apparently  the  whole  process 
was  without  consciousness. 

The  theories  of  Huxley  and  of  several  English 
authors  concerning  the  part  played  by  consciousness 
in  psychological  phenomena  seem  here  to  find  direct 
application ; yet,  as  a matter  of  fact,  this  is  only 
apparently  so,  as  we  presently  shall  see.  According 
to  Huxley  consciousness  is  an  epi-phenomenon,  a 
superfluous  phenomenon,  superadded  to  the  physio- 
logical process,  but  which  reacts  no  more  upon  that 
process  than  the  shadow  of  the  individual  upon  the 
individual  itself ; you  may  suppress  consciousness, 
and  yet  all  physiological  phenomena  will  continue  to 
be  produced  automatically  just  as  before;  objects 
will  continue  to  be  perceived  ; unconscious  reasonings 
will  develop,  followed  by  acts  of  adaptation. 

Let  us  add  a new  complication  to  our  last  ex- 
periment, and  we  shall  find  as  a result,  that  Huxley’s 
hypothesis  is  manifestly  too  simple  to  explain  it. 
Up  to  this  point  we  have  limited  ourselves  to  the 
production  of  movements  in  an  insensible  region ; 
these  movements,  however,  were  very  elementary, 
and  would  not  betray  a well-developed  thought.  We 
may  essay  to  provoke  certain  acts  of  a more  in- 
tellectual character  and  of  decidedly  higher  organi- 
zation. The  following  is  an  example  selected,  as  the 
preceding  ones,  from  among  many  others. 

We  put  a pen  into  the  anaesthetic  hand,  and  we 
make  it  write  a word ; left  to  itself  the  hand  preserves 
its  attitude,  and  at  the  expiration  of  a short  space  of 
time  repeats  the  word,  often  five  or  ten  times.  Having 
arrived  at  this  fact,  we  again  seize  the  anaesthetic 
hand,  and  cause  it  to  write  some  familiar  word,  for 
example,  the  patient’s  own  name ; but  in  so  doing, 


PROOF  OF  DOUBLE  CONSCIOUSNESS. 


17 


we  intentionally  commit  an  error  in  spelling.  In  its 
turn  the  anaesthetic  hand  repeats  the  word,  but  oddly 
enough,  the  hand  betrays  a momentary  hesitation 
when  it  reaches  the  letter  at  which  the  error  in 
orthography  was  committed;  if  a superfluous  letter 
happens  to  have  been  added,  sometimes  the  hand  will 
hesitatingly  re-write  the  name  along  with  the  supple- 
mentary letter ; again  it  will  retrace  only  a part  of 
the  letter  in  question ; and  again,  finally,  entirely  sup- 
press it. 

Plainly,  when  the  experiment  successfully  reaches 
this  degree  of  complication,  we  cannot  explain  it  by 
merely  invoking  unconscious  phenomena.  The  cor- 
rection of  an  orthographic  error  by  the  anaesthetic  hand 
indicates  the  presence  of  a guiding  thought ; and  it  is 
not  perfectly  clear,  why  the  thought  that  directs  the 
movements  of  the  writing  should  be  unconscious,  while 
that  which  controls  the  movements  of  the  word  should 
alone  be  regarded  as  conscious.  It  would  seem  more 
logical  to  admit,  that  in  these  patients  there  exist  two 
distinct  consciousnesses.  The  first  of  these  conscious- 
nesses gathers  up  the  sensations  proceeding  from  the 
sensible  members ; the  second  is  more  especially  in 
connection  with  the  insensible  regions. 

In  this  manner  we  are  able  to  verify  that  doubling 
of  consciousness  which  in  recent  years  has  become  the 
object  of  so  many  investigations.  There  may  cer- 
tainly have  been  given  more  striking  examples  of  the 
phenomena  in  question ; and  there  have  been  published 
observations  in  which  the  two  consciousnesses  are  to 
be  seen  each  performing  a different  task,  and  recipro- 
cally ignoring  each  other.  But  all  these  curious  ob- 
servations are  generally  presented  under  conditions  so 
very  complex  that  it  is  difficult  to  combine  them  for 


1 8 ON  DOUBLE  CONSCIOUSNESS. 

the  purposes  of  a correct  verification.  The  methods  of 
investigation,  relative  to  hysterical  anaesthesia,  that 
we  have  just  set  forth,  at  least  possess  the  merit  of  fur- 
nishing a strict  proof  of  double  consciousness. 

This,  however,  does  not  imply  that  the  methods 
employed  yield  results  with  all  patients  indiscrimi- 
nately. Many  hysterical  individuals  do  not  react  at  all 
when  the  experiments  mentioned  are  being  performed 
upon  them.  But  we  must  mistrust  all  purely  negative 
experiments,  which  simply  prove  that  people  did  not 
know  how  to  set  about  the  business  in  hand.  I have 
advanced  the  hypothesis,  that  when  we  are  unable  to 
provoke  the  repetition  of  the  movements,  or  acts  of 
adaptation,  in  anaesthetic  regions,  our  failure  is  due 
to  a defect  in  the  organization  of  the  second  con- 
sciousness ; the  excitation  brought  to  bear  upon  the  in- 
sensible region  is  perfectly  perceived,  but  it  does  not 
directly  lead  to  a determined  movement  \ there  are  no 
actual  associations,  ready  to  play  between  sensations 
and  movements.  Repetition  of  the  experiments,  how- 
ever, may  produce  these  necessary  co-ordinations. 

At  this  point,  accordingly,  we  are  in  possession  of 
precise  observations ; we  know  that  in  hysterical  in- 
dividuals there  exist  phenomena  of  double  conscious- 
ness, and  using  this  as  a starting-point,  it  now  re- 
mains for  us,  to  develop  our  knowledge  of  this  phe- 
nomenon through  additional  experiments. 


RELATIONS  BETWEEN  THE  TWO  CONSCIOUS- 
NESSES OH  HYSTERICAL  INDIVIDUALS. 


Whenever  we  chance  to  discover  a new  fact,  we 
seldom  describe  it  correctly.  As  a rule,  we  regard  it 
as  simpler  than  in  reality  it  is.  The  observers  who 
first  investigated  double  consciousness  in  hysterical 
persons  occupied  themselves  particularly  with  putting 
in  a clear  light  the  phenomenon  of  the  separation  of 
the  two  consciousnesses  ; this  was,  in  fact,  the  first 
thing  to  be  done.  But  the  study  of  the  numerous  re- 
lations existing  between  these  separate  consciousnesses 
was  almost  entirely  neglected.  It  is  our  purpose,  in 
this  paper,  to  recapitulate  and  present,  in  an  abridged 
form,  the  results  of  investigation  on  this  topic ; and  I 
am  convinced  that  some  day  it  will  furnish  the  clue 
to  a great  number  of  phenomena  of  mental  alienation. 
Inward  voices  supposed  to  be  heard  by  demented  in- 
dividuals, their  fixed  and  impulsive  ideas,  the  delirium 
of  possessed  persons,  are  very  probably  phenomena 
produced  by  the  doubling  of  consciousness,  and  by 
the  influences  that  one  of  the  consciousnesses  exerts 
upon  the  other. 

For  the  time  being  we  shall  remain  true  to  the 
methods  that  we  have  followed  in  our  previous  study. 
We  shall  eliminate  all  complex  and  ill-defined  obser- 
vations and  adhere,  by  preference,  to  small,  simple. 


20 


OlSr  DOUBLE  CONSCIOUSNESS. 


and  precise  experiments,  easy  of  repetition,  which, 
without  teaching  us  the  phenomena  in  their  total  de- 
velopment, at  least  yield  an  imperative  proof  of  their 
reality,  which  certainly  must  be  regarded  as  a decided 
advantage. 

Automatic  writing  furnishes  the  first  illustration  of 
the  relations  between  the  two  consciousnesses.  It  is 
a most  important  phenomenon  and  is  worth  the  trouble 
of  being  carefully  studied.  An  examination  of  the 
scientific  collections  of  England  and  America  shows 
that  in  those  countries  the  subject  is  frequently  inves- 
tigated. Professor  William  James  has  recently  sent 
me  a woik  in  which  he  recapitulates  certain  very  cu- 
rious experiments  performed  by  him  upon  normal  in- 
dividuals, or,  at  least,  individuals  who  were  supposed 
to  be  such.  The  results  obtained  by  him  afford  me 
particular  interest,  since  they  closely  resemble  those 
obtained  by  myself  with  hysterical  individuals. 

Automatic  writing  forms  part  of  a class  of  move- 
ments that  have  now  for  a long  time  been  the  subject 
of  inquiry  in  France,  and  which  may  be  described 
under  the  general  name  of  unconscious  movements 
produced  by  ideas.  As  a result  of  numerous  observa- 
tions it  is  now  a well-known  fact  that  with  excitable 
individuals  every  idea  produces  in  the  body  uncon- 
scious movements  which  at  times  are  so  precise  and 
clear,  that  by  registering  them  we  are  able  to  guess  at 
the  person’s  thoughts.  The  method  of  the  experiment 
is  frequently  the  following.  The  individual  is  asked  to 
think  of  a word,  a number,  or  of  any  object  whatso- 
ever, and  at  the  same  time  a pen  is  thrust  into  his 
hand,  with  the  assurance  that  his  thoughts  will  be  di- 
vined. It  frequently  happens  then,  that  the  person, 
although  not  feeling  any  movement  in  his  hand,  will 


RELATIONS  OF  THE  TWO  CONSCIOUSNESSES.  21 


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22 


ON  DOUBLE  CONSCIOUSNESS. 


spontaneously  write  the  word  that  he  has  thought  of. 
This  experiment  affords  an  elementary  instance  of  the 
operation  known  as  thought-reading,  and  we  at  once 
understand  how  any  clever  experimentalist  may  be 
able  to  dispense  with  the  use  of  the  pen,  and  to  guess 
at  a man’s  thought  by  simple  contact  with  the  hand. 

As  might  be  readily  expected,  such  movements 
provoked  by  ideas  are  produced  in  hysterical  persons 
with  the  greatest  facility.  When  a pen-holder  is  placed 
in  the  hand  of  an  anaesthetic  subject,  the  automatic 
writing  will  be  produced  without  his  knowledge,  and 
we  are  thus  able  to  learn  the  most  secret  thoughts  of 
the  patient.  A careful  study  of  these  movements  will 
furthermore  prove,  that  they  are  less  simple  than  is 
generally  supposed.  They  are  no  mere  reflex-move- 
ments produced  by  ideas.  This  is  proven  by  the  fact 
that  the  manner  in  which  the  idea  is  expressed  de- 
pends upon  the  attitude  given  to  the  anaesthetic  hand. 
Thus,  we  ask  the  subject  to  think  of  the  number  3. 
If  he  holds  a pen  in  his  hand  he  will  write  the  figure  3. 
If  he  has  no  pen,  and  if  before  the  experiment  we 
have  several  times  shaken  the  fingers  of  the  insensible 
hand,  the  subject  will  raise  his  finger  three  times ; the 
same  will  apply  to  the  wrist  or  to  the  movement  of  any 
other  member.  If  the  subject  has  a dynamometer  in 
his  hand  he  will  press  three  distinct  times  upon  this 
instrument.  If  the  experimentalist  himself  assumes 
the  initiative  by  raising  the  finger  of  the  subject  a cer- 
tain number  of  times,  the  finger  after  having  yielded 
three  times  to  the  impressed  movement  will  stiffen,  as 
if  it  thus  wished  to  inform  the  experimentalist  of  the 
number  that  had  been  thought  of.  All  these  experi- 
ments, and  particularly  the  last,  show  the  intervention 
of  the  second  consciousness  in  the  expression  of  the 


RELATIONS  OF  THE  TWO  CONSCIOUSNESSES.  23 


idea  of  the  number  three.  The  first  consciousness  fur- 
nishes the  idea,  and  the  second  consciousness  deter- 
mines the  manner  in  which  the  idea  shall  be  expressed  ; 
there  is,  accordingly,  a concurrence  of  the  two  con- 
sciousnesses, a collaboration  of  the  two  egos  for  one 
common  task. 

By  a singular  phenomenon  the  automatic  writing 
does  not  limit  itself  to  making  known  what  takes  place 
in  the  principal  consciousness  of  the  subject ; it  is  at 
the  same  time  in  the  service  of  the  second  conscious- 
ness, so  that,  according  to  the  nature  of  the  cases  at 
issue,  the  first  consciousness  sometimes  directs  the 
hand  of  the  subject  and  at  other  times  the  second  con- 
sciousness. We  have  collected  several  observations 
which  leave  no  doubt  on  this  point.  Let  us  begin  with 
the  very  simplest. 

Letting  the  subject  hold  a pen  in  his  anaesthetic 
hand,  we  trace  a letter,  or  some  such  sign,  upon  the 
back  of  the  hand.  The  automatic  writing  will  at  once 
reproduce  the  word  that  has  been  traced  ; the  word 
itself,  be  it  understood,  not  having  been  perceived  by 
the.  principal  consciousness,  because  the  excitation  was 
performed  upon  the  skin  of  an  anaesthetic  member, 
and  because  anaesthesia  in  some  way  is  the  barrier 
separating  the  two  consciousnesses.  If  the  word  has 
been  reproduced,  it  accordingly  must  be  because  the 
second  consciousness  has  perceived  it,  and  conse- 
quently this  simple  experiment  proves  that  the  second 
consciousness  can  express  itself  b}'^  automatic  writing. 

It  may  be  remarked,  in  passing,  that  automatic 
writing  affords  us  a very  convenient  means  of  explor- 
ing the  sensibility  of  any  apparently  anaesthetic  limb ; 
and  we  are  also  able  by  employing  this  method  to 
measure  the  sensibility  with  an  aesthesiometer.  In 


a pen  had  been  slipped,  did  not  cease  to  write  : 


24  OM  double  consciousness. 


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RELATIONS  OF  THE  TWO  CONSCIOUSNESSES.  25 


fact,  nothing  is  simpler.  Let  us  prick  the  insensible 
hand  with  one  of  the  points  of  a pair  of  compasses : 
the  automatic  writing  will  trace  a single  point.  There- 
upon let  us  apply  at  the'  same  time  both  points,  and 
the  automatic  writing,  after  a little  practice,  will  be  able 
to  tell  us  whether  the  points  have  been  distinguished 
or  confounded ; their  distance  apart,  in  millimeters, 
will  give  us  the  respective  degree  of  sensibility.  Every 
time  that  I applied  this  method  to  hysterical  subjects 
I was  able  to  verify  that  notwithstanding  anaesthesia 
sensibility  had  remained  normal;  we  can  easily  under- 
stand that  the  contradiction  here  is  only  in  the  terms 
employed. 

Automatic  writing  does  not  only  serve  to  express 
sensations  perceived  by  the  second  consciousness ; it 
is  likewise  able  to  express  the  thoughts  that  this  sec- 
ond consciousness  spontaneously  combines.  Hyster- 
ical persons  have  been  found  who,  when  a pen  was 
put  into  their  hands  and  their  attention  diverted,  began 
to  write,  unconsciously,  entire  well-connected  phrases, 
recitals,  confessions,  etc.  The  principal  subject — the 
one  with  whom  we  communicate  by  word — suspects 
nothing,  and  does  not  see  what  his  anaesthetic  hand  is 
doing ; it  is  the  second  consciousness  which  employs 
this  mode  of  expression.  I myself  have  made  this  ex- 
periment upon  a subject,  and  other  authors  have  like- 
wise reported  several  instances. 

The  latter  form  ol  experiment  is  evidently  the  one 
that  approaches  nearest  to  the  experiments  upon  au- 
tomatic writing  which  at  the  present  time  are  being 
conducted  in  England  and  America.  They  consist  in 
asking  a person  to  place  his  hand  upon  a planchette 
that  can  serve  for  the  purposes  of  writing  and  to  re- 
main immovable  without  thinking  of  anything.  When 


26 


ON  DOUBLE  CONSCIOUSNESS. 


the  subject  is  nervous  it  will  sometimes  happen  that 
the  planchette  becomes  agitated  and  begins  to  write 
thoughts  entirely  foreign  to  the  subject ; the  latter  re- 
mains motionless  and  has  no  consciousness  of  any- 
thing. It  may  be  assumed,  with  great  likelihood,  that 
under  such  conditions  an  intellectual  doubling  of  the 
subject  takes  place,  analogous  to  that  which  we  have 
observed  in  our  hemi-anaesthetic,  hysterical  patients. 
Only,  in  the  case  of  an  hysterical  individual,  the  doub- 
ling is  easier,  in  consequence  of  the  insensibility  which 
reigns  in  a part  of  the  body;  it  being  easily  compre- 
hensible that  the  acts  of  the  second  consciousness,  pro- 
duced by  preference  in  the  insensible  regions,  remain 
unknown  to  and  concealed  from  the  principal  con- 
sciousness. It  may  happen,  however,  with  certain  non- 
hysterical  subjects  that  experiments  of  doubling  bring 
about  a transitory  anaesthesia,  and  Mr,  W.  James  has 
recently  observed,  that  while  one  of  his  patients  was 
writing  with  the  planchette  he  did  not  feel  the  painful 
excitations  inflicted  upon  his  arm,  whereas  the  second 
consciousness  perceived  them  distinctly,  and  com- 
plained of  the  same  by  means  of  the  automatic  writing. 

Such  complications  of  phenomena  produce  conse- 
quences which  it  is  easy  to  foresee.  It  may  happen 
that  at  the  moment  at  which  the  principal  conscious- 
ness wishes  to  write  a word,  the  second  consciousness 
may  have  the  same  intention,  and  may  wish  to  write 
an  entirely  different  word  : hence  a conflict.  A very 
simple  experiment  will  illustrate  this  conflict.  Let  us 
seize  the  anaesthetic  hand,  and  let  us  cause  it  to  trace 
behind  a screen  the  word  “Paris.”  We  know  that 
this  word  will  be  repeated  several  times.  Thereupon 
addressing  ourselves  to  the  principal  subject,  we  will 
ask  him  to  write  the  word  “London.”  The  subject. 


RELATIONS  OF  THE  TWO  CONSCIOUSNESSES.  27 


entirely  ignorant  of  what  has  just  taken  place,  eagerly 
seizes  the  pen  with  the  intention  to  carry  out  our  wish, 
but  to  his  utter  astonishment  the  indocile  pen  instead 
of  writing  London,  writes  Paris.  Is  not  this  a phe- 
nomenon analogous  to  those  irresistible  impulses  which, 
in  madness,  consciously  reveal  themselves, — impul- 
sions to  theft,  murder,  arson,  etc.,  which  suddenly 
manifest  themselves  to  the  great  surprise  of  the  pa- 
tient, the  latter  submitting  to  the  impulse  without  com- 
prehending it.  It  is  evident  that  these  kinds  of  ex- 
periments are  destined  to  throw  a flood  of  light  upon 
several  still  obscure  points  of  mental  pathology. 

In  the  preceding  exposition  we  have  studied  the 
motory  relations  of  the  two  consciousnesses  ; we  have 
seen  them  either  uniting  their  efforts  to  accomplish  the 
same  act,  or  conflicting  with  regard  to  something  to 
be  accomplished.  But  there  exists  a second  kind  of 
relations  between  the  two  consciousnesses ; namely, 
the  relations  of  sensations  and  of  images.  It  may  hap- 
pen that  the  sensation  which  has  possession  of  a first 
consciousness  awakens  an  associated  image  in  the  sec- 
ond consciousness,  so  that,  by  a unique  intellectual 
process,  one  of  the  parts  will  be  conscious  for  one  of 
the  egos,  and  the  other  for  the  second  ego.  The  facts 
pertaining  to  this  order  of  relations  are  extremely  cu- 
rious and  instructive.  We  shall  limit  ourselves  to 
those  that  are  the  simplest  and  most  easily  produced. 

Let  us  once  more  turn  our  attention  to  an  anaes- 
thetic, hysterical  patient  ; we  will  make  a series  of  im- 
pressions upon  his  insensible  hand  ; our  subject  feels 
absolutely  nothing.  It  would,  accordingly,  be  idle  to 
ask  him  how  many  impressions  we  have  made,  be- 
cause he  does  not  even  suspect  that  his  hand  has  been 
pre.ssed.  And  yet,  the  highly  extraordinary  fact  re- 


28 


ON  DOUBLE  CONSCIOUSNESS. 


mains,  that  the  subject,  although  apparently  not  hav- 
ing felt  anything,  possesses  an  idea  of  the  number  of 
excitations  that  have  been  made  upon  him.  The  fol- 
lowing is  proof:  Let  us  make  ten  punctures  in  the  in- 
sensible hand  and  thereupon  let  us  ask  the  subject, 
who,  as  a matter  of  course,  has  not  seen  his  hand, 
which  is  hidden  behind  a screen,  to  think  of  some  num- 
ber and  to  name  it;  very  frequently  the  subject  will 
answer  that  he  is  thinking  of  the  number  ten.  In  the 
same  manner  let  us  put  a key,  a piece  of  coin,  a nee- 
dle, a watch  into  the  anaesthetic  hand,  and  let  us  ask 
the  subject  to  think  of  any  object  whatsoever;  it  will 
still  happen,  yet  less  frequently  than  in  the  preceding 
experiment,  that  the  subject  is  thinking  of  the  precise 
object  that  has  been  put  into  his  insensible  hand. 

It  is  important  to  note,  that  in  all  these  cases  the 
subject  believes  he  is  thinking  voluntarily  and  without 
constraint ; the  experimentalist,  while  compelling  him 
to  think  of  the  number  ten,  not  depriving  him  of  the 
illusion  of  his  freedom  of  will. 

How  shall  we  explain  this  result?  How  is  it  pos- 
sible that,  in  consequence  of  an  excitation  not  felt,  the 
subject  should  have  a determined  idea?  We  shall  be 
able  to  explain  everything  by  supposing  simply,  that 
the  unconscious  peripheral  excitation,  for  example  the 
puncture  of  the  anaesthetic  hand,  awakens,  by  way  of 
association,  corresponding  phenomena  of  ideation. 
But  in  reality  matters  are  more  complex.  We  have 
to  admit  rather,  that  when  we  excite  the  anaesthetic 
hand,  in  different  ways,  by  puncture  or  by  contact  with 
an  object,  the  second  consciousness  perceives  the  sen- 
sation, counts  the  punctures,  recognizes  the  object, 
and,  for  the  purposes  involved,  abandons  itself  to  more 
or  less  complicated  intellectual  acts.  These  intellect- 


RELATIONS  OF  THE  TWO  CONSCIOUSNESSES  29 


ual  acts  are  the  final  stage  of  the  process,  which  has 
had  its  origin  in  a sensation ; now  this  final  point,  this 
result,  this  conclusion  is  the  thing  that  alone  penetrates 
into  the  first  consciousness.  For  example,  when  punct- 
ures are  made  in  the  skin,  one  of  the  consciousnesses 
counts  the  sensations,  finds  their  sum-total,  and  this 
sum-total  it  is  that  reaches  the  other  consciousness, 
not  indeed  under  the  form  of  tactile  sensations,  but 
under  the  abstract  form  of  a number. 

To  sum  up.  From  the  foregoing  we  perceive  that 
the  separation  of  the  two  consciousnesses  does  not  in- 
terrupt all  communications  between  them.  The  asso- 
ciations of  ideas,  of  images,  perceptions,  and  move- 
ments, that  is,  of  all  that  pertains  to  the  sphere  of 
lower  psychology,  is  preserved  nearly  intact ; and 
hence  an  idea  in  the  first  consciousness  provokes  a 
movement  in  the  second,  and  inversely,  a sensation 
perceived  by  the  second  consciousness  can  awaken  an 
idea  in  the  first  consciousness. 

In  the  following  essay  we  shall  apply  these  results 
to  the  study  of  the  hysterical  eye. 


THE  HYSTERICAL  EYE. 


The  various  forms  of  retinal  sensibility  which  are 
met  with  in  hysterical  individuals  have  been  carefully 
studied  by  M.  Charcot  and  his  pupils,  who  have  shown 
that  the  phenomena  in  question,  which  persist  during 
the  interval  of  hysterical  crises,  and  which  can  exist 
where  there  are  no  crises,  constitute  permanent  stig- 
mata, enabling  us  to  discover  hysteria  without  the  aid 
of  convulsive  attacks  of  any  sort.  At  the  present  time 
we  are  quite  well  acquainted  with  hysterical  amaurosis, 
with  the  concentric  contraction  of  the  field  of  vision, 
with  disturbances  affecting  the  perception  of  colors, 
and  disorders  of  adjustment. 

What  is  much  less  known,  is  the  reason,  the  mech- 
anism, of  this  anaesthesia  of  the  retina.  The  many  ex- 
perimentalists who  have  hitherto  studied  the  subject 
in  question,  have  pointed  out  a number  of  peculiar 
features  rather  difficult  of  comprehension,  in  fact  so 
strange  and  striking,  that  some  have  ascribed  them  to 
simulation  on  the  part  of  the  subjects.  To  furnish  a 
precise  and  clear  instance  of  this,  we  may  state,  that 
there  are  hysterical  individuals  who,  with  both  eyes 
open,  perceive  colors  which  they  cannot  distinguish 
with  one  of  their  eyes  alone  ; while  it  seems  even  more 
wonderful  that  there  should  be  hysterical  persons  who 
do  not  see  at  all  with  one  eye,  when  that  eye  alone  is 
open,  but  whose  unilateral  blindness  disappears  as 


THE  HYSTERICAL  EYE. 


31 


soon  as  the  function  of  vision  is  performed  simulta- 
neously with  both  eyes. 

Let  us  dwell  for  a moment  upon  the  instance  given, 
and  later  we  shall  endeavor  to  explain  it. 

We  have  for  examination  an  hysterical  person  who 
has  entirely  lost  the  sight  of  the  right  eye.  Let  us 
place  before  the  patient’s  eyes  a ‘box  of  Flees  ’ ; that 
is,  a box  furnished  with  two  eye-holes.  On  the  bottom 
of  the  box  are  placed  two  points  of  different  colors, 
the  one  to  the  right,  the  other  to  the  left  ■,  and  by  a 
skillful  arrangement  the  patient  sees  with  his  right  eye 
the  point  situated  to  the  left,  and  with  his  left  the  point 
situated  to  the  right.  This  is  the  method  employed 
to  detect  shamming  and  simulation;  for  instance,  in 
the  case  of  soldiers- drafted  for  the  army.  Thus  the 
shamming  individual,  who  pretends  not  to  see  with 
his  right  eye,  will  say  that  he  does  not  see  the  point 
which  appears  to  the  right ; but  that  is  the  point  which 
is  seen  by  the  left  eye.  The  hysterical  individual 
acts  somewhat  differently,  for  he  actually  sees  the 
two  points — that  to  the  left,  and  that  to  the  right ; he 
accordingly  sees  with  both  eyes. 

A great  many  hypotheses  have  been  advanced  in 
order  to  explain  these  apparent  contradictions — ana- 
tomical hypotheses,  like  that  of  M.  Parinaud,  and  psy- 
chological hypotheses,  like  that  of  M.  Bernheim.  For 
the  time  being  we  shall  leave  this  matter  aside.  It 
will  be  far  more  profitable  to  begin  by  setting  forth  our 
recent  observations ; for  a simple  observation  can  often 
better  point  out  the  incorrectness  of  an  hypothesis 
than  any  number  of  arguments. 

Experiments  which  we  have  made  in  the  preceding 
essays  with  reference  to  the  insensibility  of  the  sense 
of  touch  in  hysterical  subjects,  have  shown  us  of  what 


32 


ON  DOUBLE  CONSCIOUSNESS. 


nature  this  insensibility  really  is.  As  a matter  of  fact 
the  hysterical  subject  is  doubled ; he  possesses  two 
distinct  consciousnesses ; and  one  of  these  conscious- 
nesses accurately  perceives  all  the  excitations  that  have 
been  impressed  upon  the  insensible  region. 

We  might  already  suppose,  ‘a  priori’,  that  insen- 
sibility of  the  retina  cannot  in  any  respect  differ  from 
insensibility  of  the  skin  in  hysterical  persons.  The 
facts  that  we  have  previously  set  forth,  confirmed  by 
different  authors  and  derived  from  our  own  experi- 
ments, are  too  significant  not  to  be  general.  But,  we 
cannot  be  satisfied  with  purely  theoretical  views. 

I long  sought  in  vain  for  some  simple,  decisive, 
and  purely  clinical  experiment  which  might  prove  that 
the  sensibility  of  the  retina,  in  cases  of  hysterical 
anaesthesia,  was  only  dissociated  and  not  destroyed. 
Chance,  aided  in  some  degree  by  perseverance,  has 
enabled  me  to  establish  the  following  fact.  We  place 
the  hysterical  subject  before  a scale  of  printed  letters, 
and  tentatively  seek  the  maximum  distance  from  the 
board  at  which  the  subject  is  able  to  read  the  largest 
letters.  It  frequently  happens  with  hysterical  per- 
sons that  the  vision  of  forms  at  a distance  is  very 
imperfect ; a circumstance  which  may  be  owing  either 
to  weakness  of  visual  acuteness  or  to  a defect  in  the 
mechanism  of  adjustment.  For  the  present  we  are 
not  attempting  to  distinguish  these  two  facts  from  one 
another. 

After  having  experimentally  determined  the  max- 
imum distance  at  which  the  subject  can  read  the  larg- 
est letters  of  the  series,  we  invite  him  to  read  certain 
smaller  letters  that  are  placed  below  the  former.  Na- 
turally enough  the  subject  is  unable  to  do  so ; but,  if 
at  this  instant,  we  slip  a pencil  into  the  anaesthetic 


THE  HYSTERICAL  EYE. 


33 


hand,  we  are  able,  by  the  agency  of  the  hand,  to  in- 
duce automatic  writing,  and  this  writing  will  repro- 
duce precisely  the  letters  which  the  subject  is  in  vain 
trying  to  read. 

This  process  of  experimentation  has  the  pre-em- 
inent advantage  of  taking  the  subject  in  his  natural 
condition — while  awake  and  at  rest  ; for  the  power 
of  automatic  writing  persists  with  him,  and  this  auto- 
matic writing  has  moreover  the  advantage  of  revealing 
to  us  the  latent  depths  of  consciousness  that  remain 
unknown  to  the  subject. 

After  the  investigations  which  we  have  made  upon 
the  hysterical  anaesthesia  of  the  skin,  an  explanation  of 
the  preceding  phenomenon  seems  to  me  wholly  super- 
fluous, and  I shall  be  satisfied  with  the  assertion  that 
the  second  consciousness  possesses  a stronger  visual 
acuteness  than  the  first  consciousness. 

It  is  highly  interesting  to  observe,  that  during  the 
‘very  time  the  subject  is  repeatedly  declaring,  that  he 
does  not  see  the  letters,  the  anaesthetic  hand,  unknown 
to  him,  writes  out  the  letters  one  after  another.  If, 
interrupting  the  experiment,  we  ask  the  subject  to 
write,  of  his  own  free  will,  the  letters  of  the  printed 
series,  he  will  not  be  able  to  do  so,  and  when  asked 
simply  to  draw  what  he  sees,  he  will  only  produce  a 
few  zig-zag  marks  that  have  no  meaning. 

Let  us  further  remark,  that  although  the  subject 
maintains  that  he  sees  nothing,  the  automatic  writing 
nevertheless  reproduces  all  the  letters  marked  on  the 
black-board  with  perfect  regularity,  without  omitting 
a single  letter,  beginning  at  the  first  and  finishing 
with  the  last.  We  must,  accordingly,  suppose  that 
during  the  experiment  the  second  consciousness  di- 


34 


ON  DOUBLE  CONSCIOUSNESS. 


rects  the  line  of  sight,  without  the  knowledge  of  the 
principal  subject. 

The  visual  acuteness  of  this  second  consciousness 
in  the  subjects  which  I have  examined  has  seemed  to 
me  to  be  equal  to  the  normal  acuteness.  If  we  place  the 
subject  at  too  great  a distance  from  the  black-board 
the  automatic  writing  will  begin  to  hesitate ; the  sub- 
ject will  thereupon  commit  real  mistakes ; for  example, 
he  will  read  “Lucien”  instead  of  “ Louisa,”  which, 
incidentally  observed,  proves  that  the  phenomenon 
wrongly  bears  the  name  of  automatic  writing ; an  au- 
tomaton does  not  mistake ; the  second  consciousness, 
on  the  contrary,  is  subject  to  error  because  it  is  a 
consciousness,  because  it  is  a thing  that  reasons  and 
combines  thoughts. 

In  the  course  of  investigations  of  this  kind  there 
sometimes  arise  certain  perturbations  which  are  very 
important  to  understand,  and  which  afford  a fresh  proof 
of  those  manifold  relations  existing  between  the  two 
consciousnesses  that  we  investigated  in  a former  pa- 
per. Thus,  when  the  subject  is  convinced  that  he  can- 
not read  the  letters  on  the  board,  it  may  happen  that 
the  automatic  writing,  controlled  by  this  state  of  con- 
sciousness, will  confine  itself  to  translating  the  same, 
so  that  the  anaesthetic  hand  will  indistinctly  trace  the 
words  which  the  subject  is  muttering  in  a low  voice  to 
himself,  as  “ I do  not  see,  I do  not  see . . . . ” 

A second  perturbation  arises  from  the  fact,  that  the 
subject,  during  the  time  that  the  hand  is  unconsciously 
writing  the  word,  believes  he  has  a vague  perception 
of  this  same  word.  In  reality  this  is  only  an  illusory 
perception.  To  produce  this  phenomenon  we  have  to 
call  into  play  the  automatic  writing,  by  putting  a pen- 
cil into  the  anaesthetic  hand ; and,  as  a matter  of  fact. 


THE  HYSTERICAL  EYE. 


35 


it  is  the  more  or  less  vague  perception  of  these  move- 
ments of  automatic  writing  that  makes  the  subject  be- 
lieve he  has  a visual  perception  of  the  word,  whereas 
he  has  only  a visual  image  of  the  same.  Even  this 
image,  at  times,  is  rather  vague.  Thus,  one  of  our 
subjects,  while  his  hand  wrote  the  word  “ Marguerite,” 
said  he  thought  he  saw  the  name  of  a woman.  But, 
how  could  it  be  possible  to  perceive,  with  his  eyes, 
that  a word  is  the  name  of  a woman,  if  he  could  not 
spell  the  word  in  question  ? Evidently,  in  this  case, 
visual  or  muscular  sensations  belonging  to  the  second 
consciousness,  have  provoked  in  the  first  conscious- 
ness an  idea  of  the  same  kind. 

We  have  already  observed  an  analogous  fact  in 
the  experiments  before  reported  upon  the  anaesthesia 
of  the  skin  and  of  the  muscles  \ we  there  saw,  that  if 
we  shake  twice  in  succession  an  insensible  finger,  the 
subject  will  think  of  the  number  two.  The  perception 
of  the  movements  of  the  finger  by  the  second  con- 
sciousness had  called  forth  in  the  domain  of  the  first 
consciousness  an  analogous  idea,  expressed  in  an  ab- 
stract form. 

Let  us  remark,  in  passing,  that  through  these  ex- 
periments there  possibly  exists  a means  of  studying 
abstract  ideas. 

We  have  now  studied  the  perception  of  forms  in  an 
eye  presenting  a weak  visual  acuteness.  The  same  func- 
tion may  be  studied  in  a completely  amaurotic  eye, 
that  is,  in  an  eye  afflicted  with  total  blindness.  It  is 
rare  to  meet  with  hysterical  patients  in  whom  insensi- 
bility of  the  retina  reaches  the  verge  of  blindness  ; but 
we  can  very  easily  produce  this  phenomenon  by  way 
of  hypnotic  suggestion.  I have  had  occasion  to  study 
two  hysterical  subjects  in  whom  by  suggestion  all  man- 


36 


ON  DOUBLE  CONSCIOUSNESS. 


ner  of  vision  had  been  suppressed  in  the  right  eye.  I 
was  easily  able  to  establish  the  fact,  that  after  closing 
the  left  eye  of  the  subject,  and  putting  into  his  anaes- 
thetic hand,  without  his  knowledge,  a pencil,  the  au- 
tomatic writing  was  brought  to  reproduce  all  the  let- 
ters which  we  passed  before  the  amaurotic  eye.  This 
amaurotic  eye,  accordingly,  did  see,  notwithstanding 
its  apparent  blindness  ; in  other  words,  the  second  con- 
sciousness was  the  one  that  saw  ; it  had  not  been  struck 
with  blindness  at  the  same  time  as  the  first  conscious- 
ness. 

This  latter  experiment  enables  us  absolutely  to  re- 
ject any  anatomical  theory  that  has  been  designed  to 
explain  the  singular  phenomena  of  v/hich  we  have 
spoken  at  the  beginning  of  this  paper.  We  have  said 
that  certain  subjects,  who  with  their  right  eye  do  not 
perceive  a certain  color — for  example,  violet — will, 
when  seeing  with  both  eyes,  easily  distinguish  this 
same  color,  even  when,  owing  to  the  experimental  ar- 
rangement employed,  the  color  mentioned  is  not  placed 
in  the  visual  field  of  the  left  eye.  This  experiment, 
and  many  others  of  a similar  kind,  lead  us  to  sup- 
pose, that  the  conditions  of  binocular  vision  are  dif- 
ferent from  those  of  monocular  vision. 

To  speak  a little  more  precisely,  it  has  been  ad- 
mitted that  there  exist  two  different  kinds  of  visual 
centres  within  the  cerebral  cortex ; in  the  first  place 
monocular  centres,  which  act,  when  only  one  eye  is 
open ; and  furtfier,  binocular  centres,  that  perform 
their  functions  when  both  eyes  are  at  the  same  time 
open.  Cerebral  physiology,  with  its  usual  compla- 
cency, has  furnished  more  than  one  argument  in  favor 
of  this  hypothesis,  which,  however,  ought  to  be  re- 
garded as  open  to  considerable  suspicion.  This  be- 


THE  HYSTERICAL  EYE. 


37 


ing  admitted,  nothing  seemed  more  easy  than  to  ex- 
plain, how  and  why  hysterical  individuals  see  certain 
colors  when  both  eyes  are  open,  and  not  when  only 
one  eye  performs  its  functions ; people  have  thought, 
that  it  was  owing  to  the  fact,  that  with  such  subjects 
the  binocular  centre  is  spared  while  the  monocular 
centre  alone  is  affected. 

The  last  of  our  experiments  absolutely  refutes  this 
theory,  showing  us  that  a subject  with  an  amaurotic 
eye  is  able  to  register  through  automatic  writing  the  ob- 
jects that  are  placed  before  it  during  monocular  vis- 
ion. The  monocular  centre,  accordingly,  if  it  really  exist, 
cannot  be  an)^  more  affected  than  the  binocular  centre. 

We  shall  not  linger  any  longer  upon  this  study  of 
visual  anaesthesia,  which  once  again  proves  to  us  the 
importance  of  the  doubling  of  consciousness  in  hys- 
terical persons,  and  the  necessity  of  knowing  this  pro- 
cess of  doubling,  in  order  to  understand  certain  symp- 
toms, at  first  sight  so  strange,  and  yet  at  bottom  so 
logical,  which  are  met  with,  at  every  side,  in  hysteria. 

We  now  know  the  most  elementary  facts  at  the 
basis  of  mental  dissociation,  and  we  may  attempt  to 
plunge  to  a still  greater  depth  into  the  study  of  the 
phenomenon  described. 


MECHANISM  OR  SUBCONSCIOUSNESS? 


In  all  the  experiments  that  I have  hitherto  pre- 
sented, I have  supposed  in  hysterical  persons  the 
existence  of  a double  consciousness.  This  hypothesis 
possessed  the  advantage  of  explaining  how  it  happens 
that  we  are  able  to  provoke  in  the  limbs  of  such  indi- 
viduals various  complex  movements  of  adaptation, 
which  are  performed  without  their  knowledge ; and 
we,  accordingly,  proceeded  upon  the  assumption  that 
these  movements  were  regulated  by  a secondary  con- 
sciousness, which  does  not  amalgamate  with  the  prin- 
cipal personality. 

But' the  objection  has  recently  been  made,  that  the 
hypothesis  of  double  consciousness  is  not  necessary, 
and  that  we  might  explain  all  the  experiments  in 
question  by  presuming  that  the  movements  of  the 
insensible  members  are  parcel  of  that  mechanical 
activity  which  is  constantly  seen  at  work  in  habit  and 
instinct,  and  which  seems  to  perform  its  functions 
without  the  aid  of  consciousness. 

This  second  explanation,  at  first  blush,  is  so  natu- 
ral, that  when  I began  my  researches  I did  not  hesitate 
to  accept  it,  even  contrary  to  the  opinion  of  my  friend 
M.  Pierre  Janet,  who  adopted  the  hypothesis  of  sub- 
conscious phenomena.  But  later,  according  as  my 
observations  and  experiments  became  more  numerous, 
I was  compelled  to  abandon  the  explanation  founded 


MECHANISM  OR  SUBCONSCIOUSNESS. 


39 


upon  mechanical  acts.  This,  I admit,  cost  me  a great 
deal;  for  it  is  singular  to  observe,  how,  despite  our- 
selves, and  the  desire  of  being  impartial,  we  ever 
reluctantly  surrender  a first  idea.  I shall,  there- 
fore, essay  to  recapitulate  the  facts  that  have  brought 
about  my  conviction.  Some  of  these  facts  are  new ; 
but  the  greater  part  have  already  been  published  by 
me  in  the  Revue philosophique  of  February,  1889  ; and 
M.  Pierre  Janet  in  his  recent  book  on  psychological 
automatism  {V Automatisme  psychologique~)  has  added 
other  facts  that  are  highly  interesting. 

Let  us  begin  with  the  simplest  cases. 

We  have  before  us  a lady  patient,  observed  in  the 
waking  state,  whose  anaesthetic  hand,  hidden  behind 
a screen,  repeats  the  movements  that  it  is  made  to  per- 
form ; the  patient  feels  nothing,  suspects  nothing,  and 
believes  that  her  hand  is  motionless.  This  repetition 
of  the  movement  may  be  regarded  as  a physiological 
act  devoid  of  consciousness.  Let  us  complicate  slightly 
the  experiment  in  question.  Let  us  cause  the  hand  to 
trace  the  patient’s  own  name,  and,  in  so  doing,  com- 
mit an  orthographical  error ; it  frequently  happens 
that  the  hand,  in  re-writing  the  name,  hesitates  when  it 
reaches  the  error,  or  will  even  correct  it.  We  may 
still,  perhaps,  maintain  that  this  is  a physiological  act 
devoid  of  consciousness.  But  let  us  continue.  There 

are  patients,  St.  Am for  example,  whose  hand 

spontaneously  finishes  the  word  they  are  made  to 
trace ; thus,  I cause  the  letter  d to  be  written ; the 
hand  continues,  and  writes  don  ; I write  pa,  and 
the  hand  continues  and  writes  pavilion  ; I write  Sal, 
and  the  hand  writes  ; Salpetriere.  Is  it  possible  that 
this  is  an  act  destitute  of  consciousness  ? The  ques- 
tion, manifestly,  is  become  more  doubtful.  But  there 


40 


ON  DOUBLE  CONSCIOUSNESS. 


is  a more  convincing  instance  still,  for  the  following 
case  is  the  most  curious  that  has  come  under  my 
notice.  M.  Taine  was  speaking  to  me  one  day,  in  de- 
tail, of  an  observation  that  he  has  inserted  in  the  pre- 
face to  his  beautiful  book  on  Intelligence  {T Intelli- 
gence). The  observation  in  question  relates  to  a young 
girl  who,  at  times,  would  unconsciously  seize  a pen, 
and  write  a whole  page,  the  sense  of  which  she  did  not 
understand ; this  page,  always  signed  by  the  same 
name,  (M.  Taine  told  me  that  it  was  the  name  of  the 
girl’s  governess,)  was  the  expression  of  mournful  ideas 
and  sorrowful  reflections  upon  life.  What  particularly 
interested  me  in  the  matter  of  this  observation  was 
the  fact,  that  I myself,  in  an  observation  of  my  own, 
have  obtained  an  entirely  analogous  result,  and  M. 
Pierre  Janet,  likewise,  has  gotten  five  or  six  more.  The 
lady  patient,  whom  I observed,  was  an  hysterical  sub- 
ject, whose  right  arm  was  totally  insensible.  On  cer- 
tain days,  when  a pen  was  put  into  her  right  hand  be- 
hind a screen,  the  hand  in  question,  without  further 
solicitation,  would  begin  to  write  connected  phrases, 
to  which  the  mind  of  the  patient  remained  wholly  for- 
eign, for  while  her  hand  was  writing,  the  patient  would 
be  chatting  with  us  about  something  entirely  different. 
Concerning  the  explanation  of  these  last  facts,  the 
slightest  doubt  no  longer  seems  permissible ; and  it 
is  likewise  certain  that  authors  who  have  gathered 
equally  complicated  observations,  have  not  hesitated 
in  regard  to  the  manner  in  which  they  are  to  be  ex- 
plained. 

In  fine,  we  behold,  in  this  instance,  the  writing  of 
the  anaesthetic  hand  become  the  secretary  of  a com- 
plete personality,  endowed  with  its  own  exclusive 
ideas,  and  its  own  emotions.  M.  Taine,  without  the 


MECHANISM  OR  SUBCONSCIOUSNESS. 


41 


thought  of  an  objection,  admits  that  these  facts  are 
explained  by  the  existence  of  two  personalities  in  jux- 
taposition. 

I well  know  that  a skeptic  could  always  maintain 
that  the  second  personality,  revealed  in  our  experi- 
ments, is  a personality  destitute  of  consciousness.  I 
am,  indeed,  unable  to  furnish  the  material  proof  to 
convince  such  a skeptic  that  he  is  mistaken.  The 
question  of  consciousness,  as  in  a future  article  I shall 
have  occasion  fully  to  demonstrate,  is  one  of  the  most 
delicate  problems  that  a psychologist  could  undertake 
to  solve.  Upon  the  whole,  however,  it  seems  to  me 
that  there  is  a great  probability  in  favor  of  the  ac- 
ceptance of  the  element  of  consciousness  in  such 
complex  psychic  manifestations  as  those  I have  just 
cited. 

M.  Pierre  Janet  has  added  to  the  subject  in  ques- 
tion a further  argument,  that  ought  to  be  regarded  as 
convincing.  How  are  we  led  to  recognize,  he  asks, 
the  existence  of  consciousness  in  another  individual? 
When  we  find,  for  example,  that  the  individual  utters 
connected  words,  conveying  sense.  But,  if  the  word 
is  one  mode  of  expression  of  conscious  thought,  writ- 
ing must  be  regarded  as  another,  equally  complex,  or 
even  iilore  so;  and  we  are  unable  to  understand  why 
writing  should  not  prove  as  much  as  the  spoken  word. 

Moreover,  in  order  to  render  this  demonstration 
perfectly  convincing,  we  will  say,  that  there  are  pa- 
tients in  whom  this  second  personality  speaks,  even 
in  the  state  of  wake.  Here,  at  least  if  I consult  my 
own  experience,  we  have  to  do  with  entirely  excep- 
tional cases.  Thus,  I have  seen  three  patients  who, 
when  we  slightly  pricked  their  insensible  member, 
suddenly  would  complain  in  a loud  voice,  crying : 


42 


ON  DOUBLE  CONSCIOUSNESS. 


“You  hurt  me  !”  It  was  the  second  personality  that 
spoke,  for  if  we  addressed  the  patient  directly  and 
called  her  by  her  own  name,  she  would  invariably 
declare  that  she  had  said  nothing.  I did  not  follow 
out  the  study  of  these  curious  phenomena,  because  at 
the  beginning  of  my  researches  I did  not  know  whether 
they  were  real  or  simulated.  But  M.  Pierre  Janet 
has  observed  similar  ones  under  circumstances  so  pre- 
cise, that  now  I no  longer  doubt  their  exactitude. 

Here,  accordingly,  the  second  personality  of  the 
hysterical  patient  not  only  writes  of  its  own  accord, 
but  speaks  even.  Shall  we  still  maintain  that  this  is 
an  unconscious  personality? 

But  this  is  not  all.  We  know  of  even  more  con- 
vincing facts.  We  know  of  observations,  in  which 
this  second  personality,  ever  awake,  is  seen  gradu- 
ally to  develop  more  and  more,  and  to  assume  the 
initiative  in  conduct,  instead  of  the  first  personality, 
which  is  temporarily  annihilated.  Such  is  the  case 
of  Felida,  the  interesting  patient  whose  history  M. 
Azam  reported  twenty  years  ago,  which  people  at 
that  epoch  could  not  have  been  expected  to  under- 
stand, but  at  the  present  time  is  perfectly  elucidated 
by  all  the  data  which  in  an  abridged  form  we  are  plac- 
ing before  the  reader.  With  Felida  there  occurred 
certain  critical  periods,  as  the  effect  of  which  her 
character  would  completely  change  and  a part  of  her 
recollections  would  disappear;  she  passed  into  a new 
state — into  her  second  condition,  as  M.  Azam  called 
it ; this  second  condition,  which  would  last  weeks  and 
even  months,  was  connected  by  memory  with  her  pre- 
vious “second”  conditions.  Thus  she  would  remem- 
ber persons,  whom  she  had  seen  in  former  “second” 
conditions,  but  she  did  not  remember  those  whom 


MECHANISM  OR  SUBCONSCIOUSNESS. 


43 


she  had  seen  in  the  intervals.  Thus  there  was 
developed  within  the  patient  a real  double  personality, 
not  co-existent,  but  successive. 

The  facts  above  set  forth  have  led  me  to  the 
assumption  that  there  may  exist  in  hysterical  patients 
two  rational  faculties,  that  are  mutually  ignorant  of 
each  other.  I do  not  regard  this  as  a simple  hypo- 
thesis; it  is  an  induction,  in  my  opinion  perfectly  legit- 
imate. 

To  me  it  seems  difficult,  upon  the  occasion  of 
every  case  examined  and  every  movement  produced 
in  the  anaesthetic  member,  to  declare  whether  the 
movement  in  question  is  accompanied  by  conscious- 
ness ; the  criterion  which  we  employ  is  too  uncertain 
to  be  everywhere  applied  with  infallibility.  But  I be- 
lieve it  satisfactorily  established  in  a general  way,  that 
two  states  of  consciousness,  not  known  to  each  other, 
can  co-exist  in  the  mind  of  an  hysterical  patient.* 

We  discover  at  once  the  psychological  conclusion 
to  be  drawn  from  the  preceding  experiments  ; namely, 
that  the  limits  of  introspection  are  not  those  of  con- 
sciousness ; and  that  where  we  have  not  conscious- 
ness, there  is  not  necessarily  unconsciousness.  Such 
are  the  very  important  and  very  curious  facts  that  to 
me  seem  destined  to  reconstruct  the  theory  of  the 
unconscious. 

* I cannot  adduce  here  all  the  arguments  upon  which  my  position  is 
based.  I shall  only  refer,  in  this  note,  to  the  interesting  researches  of  M. 
Pierre  Janet  upon  “systematic  anaesthesia.” 


44 


ON  DOUBLE  CONSCIOUSNESS, 


THE  GRAPHIC  METHOD  AND  THE  DOUBLING 
OF  CONSCIOUSNESS. 


Psychologists,  in  the  last  few  years,  have  come 
by  many  different  ways  to  establish  the  fact  that  in 
hysterical  patients  a plurality  of  persons  exists.  The 
curious  observation,  for  example,  of  Doctor  Azam,  of 
Bordeaux,  may  be  recalled,  where  a young  woman, 
by  the  name  of  F^lida,  manifestly  hysterical,  presented 
two  successive  lives  in  which  she  possessed  neither 
the  same  character  nor  had  the  same  recollections.* 
Azam’s  observation  does  not  stand  alone.  There  are 
others  recorded,  very  many  in  fact,  of  the  same  kind; 
as  for  instance  that  of  Doctor  Dufay.  In  his  “Dis- 
eases of  Personality,”  M.  Ribot  has  given  a complete 
history  of  this  interesting  question. 

The  experiments  that  we  presented  in  a former 
series  of  articles  on  this  subject,  and  the  similar  ex- 
periments of  M.  Pierre  Janet,  accordingly,  set  forth 
nothing  new.  We  have  simpl}^  found  a method  of  re- 
vealing in  the  majority  of  persons  afflicted  with  hys- 
teria those  remarkable  phenomena  of  duplication 
which  hitherto  seemed  somewhat  exceptional.  We 
have  established,  almost  with  certainty  in  fact,  that  in 
such  subjects  there  exists  side  by  side  with  the  prin- 
cipal personality  a secondary  personality,  which  is  un- 


*Azam,  Double  Conscience^  etc.:  J.  B.  Baillifere,  Paris. 


THE  EMPLOYMENT  OF  THE  GRAPHIC  METHOD.  45 


known  by  the  first,  which  sees,  hears,  reflects,  reasons, 
and  acts. 

In  following  out  our  study  of  the  methods  that 
enable  us  to  reveal  this  hidden  personality,  we  are  now 
to  have  recourse  to  the  so-called  graphic  method,  the  em- 
ployment of  which,  at  first  restricted  to  the  work-rooms 
of  physiology,  seems,  at  the  present  time,  destined  to 
find  its  way  into  the  current  practice  of  medicine. 

The  principle  upon  which  this  method  works,  con- 
sists, as  we  know,  in  the  transmission  of  the  move- 
ment we  desire  to  study,  to  a lever  the  pointed  ex- 
tremity of  which  writes  upon  a revolving  cylinder.  The 
transmission  of  the  movement  to  the  lever  may  be 
effected  by  various  means,  the  simplest  of  which  is  a 
rubber-tube  having  communication  with  an  expansible 
chamber,  which  moves  the  lever.  Every  pressure  ex- 
erted upon  the  rubber  will  be  transmitted  to  the  lever 
by  the  column  of  air  enclosed  within  the  tube,  and  thus 
trace  a line  upon  the  cylinder.  This  line  presents  va- 
rious characteristics  to  be  noted.  When  the  lever  is 
at  rest,  and  no  movement  is  transmitted  to  it,  the  line 
that  it  traces  is  perfectly  rectilinear ; if,  on  the  con- 
trary, it  receives  a pressure,  it  will  trace  a curve  more 
or  less  uneven,  which  will  rise  above  the  line  traced 
when  at  rest,  designated  the  line  of  abscissas.  This 
curve,  by  the  height  to  which  it  rises  above  the  line  of 
abscissas,  will  indicate  the  amplitude  of  the  move- 
ment ; by  its  length  upon  the  cylinder,  of  which  we 
know  the  velocity  of  rotation,  it  will  indicate,  and  that 
with  absolute  precision,  the  rapidity  of  the  movement ; 
and  finally,  its  form  will  indicate  the  form  of  the 
movement.  This,  in  few  words,  is  the  principle  of 
the  wonderful  method  that  has  given  a new  status  to 
the  physiology  of  movement. 


4*5 


ON  DOUBLE  CONSCIOUSNESS. 


How  may  this  method  be  applied  to  the  study  of 
the  doubling  of  consciousness?  How  are  we  to  get  a 
line  that  will  exhibit  a relation  to  this  disorder  of  the 
mind  ? The  question  was  put  to  me  by  several  psy- 
chologists to  whom  I had  discovered  the  present  sub- 
ject of  my  investigations.  But  the  difficulty  is  at  once 
removed  when  we  reflect  that  each  separate  personal- 
ity can  be  brought  to  execute  movements,  and  that 
these  movements  can  be  registered. 

For  example,  we  have  an  hysterical  patient,  hemi- 

anaesthetical  on  the  left  side;  her  name  is  P.  S , 

and  she  will  be  the  subject  of  the  experiments  the  de- 
scription of  which  is  to  follow.  She  is  a young  girl, 
twenty  years  of  age,  tall,  well-developed,  intelligent, 
and  of  a serious  disposition,  yet  who  is  subject  to 
dreadful  convulsive  attacks  and  in  the  intervals  of 
these  attacks,  to  delirious  crises.  We  shall  study  her 
during  one  of  these  intervals  of  repose.  With  her,  the 
movements  of  the  second  personality  which  are  com- 
monly called  “ automatic  writing,”  are  highly  devel- 
oped in  the  insensible  portion  of  her  body  ; thus,  if  we 
tell  her  to  think  of  a number,  her  anaesthetic  hand  will 
be  seen  to  execute  movements  in  connection  with  the 
number  thought  of ; if  we  tell  her  to  count  the  beats 
of  a metronome,  her  hand,  while  she  is  counting,  will 
be  seen  gently  to  keep  time.  These  different  move- 
ments are  performed  without  the  participation  of  will, 
or  even  of  consciousness  on  her  part ; they  may  be 
called,  if  we  choose,  automatic  movements,  but  it  is 
not  to  be  forgotten  that  they  are  extremely  complex, 
and  that  it  would  be  improper  to  liken  them  to  simple 
reflex  motions.  We  return,  here,  to  an  important 
question  that  we  have  touched  upon  in  our  first  article. 
Repetition,  perhaps,  is  necessary.  We  said  there  that 


THE  EMPLOYMENT  OF  THE  GRAPHIC  METHOD.  47 


the  movements  performed  by  the  anaesthetic  member 
under  the  influence  of  an  idea,  sometimes  exhibit  all 
the  marks  of  a movement  that  is  intellectual,  the  result 
of  a reflective  act  and  of  volition.  One  of  the  proofs 
that  may  be  given  of  this,  is,  that  with  our  patient  P. 

S the  application  of  a recording  instrument  to  the 

anaesthetic  member  greatly  increases  the  intensity  of 
the  movements  ; and  that  when  the  instrument  is  taken 
away  they  slacken,  without,  however,  completely  dis- 
appearing. Furthermore,  the  form  of  the  movement 
varies  with  the  form  of  the  apparatus  applied.  If  we 
simply  place  a pencil  in  the  insensible  hand  while  the 
subject  is  thinking  of  the  number  5,  she  will  write  5; 
if  we  place  a dynamograph  in  her  hand,  she  will  press 
five  times  ; if  a myographic  drum  be  used,  which  is  an 
arrangement  to  measure  muscular  dilatation,  and  if 
that  apparatus  be  applied  to  the  forearm,  the  forearm 
performs  a movement.  In  short,  there  is  in  all  these 
cases  an  intelligent  adaptation  to  the  form  of  the  ap- 
paratus used.  If  still  other  facts  be  required  to  de- 
monstrate the  complex  nature  of  the  movements  in 
question,  we  may  say  that  they  are  not  produced  at  the 
outset  in  all  patients;  but  it  is  necessary  to  wait  for  a 
time — for  example,  to  strike  the  metronome  with  regu- 
larity some  several  minutes  in  succession,  in  order  that 
the  second  personality  which  has  control  of  these 
movements  may  comprehend  what  is  wanted  of  it,  and 
execute  the  same.  Thus,  for  example,  if  during  an 
experiment  a key  be  let  fall  upon  the  table,  the  subject 
will  not  at  once  perform  an  automatic  movement ; but 
if  the  key  be  let  fall  at  equal  intervals,  or  if  we  regu- 
larly strike  a metronome,  a moment  will  arrive  when 
the  movements  will  be  produced  and  when  they  will 
regulate  their  rhythm  to  keep  time  with  the  sound 


48 


ON  DOUBLE  CONSCIOUSNESS. 


heard.  Sometimes,  even,  it  happens  that  when  the 
metronome  is  suddenly  stopped,  the  subject,  not  be- 
ing warned  of  our  intention,  continues  to  produce  an 
automatic  movement  or  semi-contraction. 

These  few  facts  suffice  to  show  us,  that  the  in- 
voluntary and  unconscious  movements  an  hysterical 
subject  performs  when  under  the  influence  of  a pre- 
dominant idea  or  upon  hearing  the  beats  of  a metro- 
nome, reveal  a directive  process  of  reasoning  and  a 
directive  volition.  They  are  voluntary  movements  on 
the  part  of  the  second  personality  of  the  patient. 

These  movements  are,  as  we  have  already  remarked, 
greatly  stimulated  by  the  application  of  an  instrument 
to  receive  them,  and  I have  witnessed  them  produced  in 
almost  every  instance  in  which  I have  applied  such 
an  instrument.  The  respiratory  movements  in  parti- 
cular, when  the  subject  thinks  of  a number,  or  hears 
the  beats  of  the  metronome,  can  change  rhythm ; 
further,  according  as  the  experiment  is  prolonged,  the 
movements  increase  progressively  in  intensity. 

After  these  few  preliminary  remarks,  I have  now 
only  to  bring  before  the  eyes  of  my  readers  the  tracings 

that  I have  taken  with  the  patient  P.  S , and 

which  are  reproduced,  with  necessary  explanations, 
on  the  accompanying  pages. 

These  tracings  were  all  taken,  without  interruption, 
in  the  course  of  a single  experiment,  and  without  any 
alteration  having  been  made  in  the  apparatus,  which  re- 
mained in  its  place.  A myographic  drum  was  applied 
to  each  forearm.  It  will  be  remembered  that  the  right 

side  of  P.  S is  insensible  ; the  comparison  of  the 

reactions  produced  in  both  sides  of  the  body  can 
accordingly  serve  for  showing  the  influence  of  anaes- 
thesia upon  the  so-called  automatic  movements. 


THE  EMPLOYMENT  OF  THE  GRAPHIC  METHOD.  49 


Fig.  I. — Experiment  with  P.  S , hemianassthetical,  on  the  right  side. 

The  first  line  traced,  beginning  at  the  top,  represents  the  voluntary  contrac- 
tions of  the  right,  insensible  arm.  The  second  line  traced  represents  the 
voluntary  contractions  of  the  left,  sensible  arm.  Both  were  taken  at  the  same 
time.  The  third  line  represents  the  automatic  movements  of  the  right,  in- 
sensible arm  during  the  beats  of  a metronome ; the  fourth  line  corresponds 
to  the  left,  sensible  arm  during  the  same  experiment.  The  fifth  tracing  rep- 
resents the  automatic  movements  of  the  right,  insensible  arm  while  the  sub- 
ject is  thinking  of  the  number  5 ; the  sixth  line  corresponds  to  the  left,  sensible 
arm  during  the  same  experiment.  The  lines  are  to  be  read  from  left  to  right. 
Minimum  velocity  of  cylinder. 


50 


ON  DOUBLE  CONSCIOUSNESS. 


We  begin  by  asking  the  subject  to  press  both  hands 
energetically,  then  to  open  them,  his  eyes  all  the  while 
being  closed  ; we  thus  obtain  the  two  first  lines  of  the 
first  figure ; the  first  line  belongs  to  the  right,  anaes- 
thetic arm,  and  the  second  to  the  left,  sensible  arm  ; 
we  may  collect  therefrom  the  following  differences  : the 
movement  of  the  anaesthetic  hand  is  behind  that  of  the 
other  hand  ; the  height  of  the  curve  is  less  ; the  line 
of  ascension  is  more  inclined.* 

Now,  let  us  ask  the  subject  to  make  no  movement 
whatever,  to  remain  completely  immobile,  and  to  listen 
attentively  to  the  beats  of  a metronome  : the  third  line 
traced,  of  the  figure,  corresponds  to  the  right,  anaes- 
thetic arm,  which,  without  the  knowledge  of  the  sub- 
ject, executes  clearly-defined  movements,  in  rhythmic 
adaption  to  the  beats  of  the  metronome ; in  the  fourth 
line,  on  the  contrary,  which  corresponds  to  the  left, 
sensible  member,  scarcely  anything  is  produced. 

Let  us  stop  the  metronome,  and  ask  the  subject  to 
remain  very  quiet  and,  with  both  eyes  closed,  to  think 
of  the  number  5.  The  right  hand  then  begins,  without 
the  knowledge  of  the  subject,  to  perform  movements 
very  clearly  indicated  in  the  fifth  tracing  of  our  first 
figure,  while  the  left,  sensible  hand  remains  almost 
immobile,  as  shown  by  the  sixth  and  last  line  marked. 

Accordingly,  the  first  figure  shows  us,  with  per- 
fect evidence,  that  if  the  two,  sensible  and  insensible, 

arms,  of  P.  S be  explored  at  the  same  time,  the 

voluntary  contractions  will  be  stronger  in  the  sensible 
member,  and  the  automatic  contractions,  or  those  of 
the  second  personality,  stronger  in  the  anaesthetic 
member.  This  result,  which  we  have  similarly  ob- 

*On  this  point,  I may  refer  to  my  last  publication  : Les  Movements  volon- 
taires  dans  V Anesthesie  hysterique.  Revue  Philosophique^  1889. 


THE  EMPLOYMENT  OF  THE  GRAPHIC  METHOD.  51 


tained  with  another  subject,  appears  to  uphold  the 
conclusion  that  the  second  personality  has  chosen,  as 
the  seat  of  its  operation,  the  insensible  regions  of  the 
body. 

This  result,  we  once  more  remark,  is  obtained  only 
when  we  make  simultaneously  a bilateral  exploration. 
Other  tracings,  which  we  have  deemed  unnecessary  to 
publish,  clearly  show  that  the  automatic  contractions 
of  the  sensible  member  are  very  much  stronger  when 
no  apparatus  is  during  the  same  time  applied  to  the 
other  arm.  In  this  case,  as  a matter  of  fact,  the  second 
personality  brings  its  attention  especially  to  bear  upon 
the  region  of  the  body  where  the  experiment  is  being 
made  ; whereas,  if  it  is  obliged  in  some  way,  to  concern 
itself  with  both  arms  at  the  same  time,  it  prefers  to 
take  charge  of  the  movements  of  the  anaesthetic 
arm.  This  common  comparison  is  employed  in  order 
to  render  a highly  delicate  fact  clearly  intelligible.  It 
is  certain  that  what  we  designate  by  a convenient  term 
the  second  personality,  is  a complex  synthesis  of  psy- 
chological elements,  and  that  this  synthesis,  according 
to  circumstances,  is  now  constructed,  now  destroyed, 
now  enlarged,  and  now  diminished.  It  is  understand- 
able, how  attention,  practice,  and  repetition  can  aid 
the  development  of  this  synthesis  ; which  is  the  case, 
when,  in  proportion  as  the  experiment  is  protracted, 
the  movements  become  more  and  more  extended. 
This  fact,  moreover,  can  be  observed  with  the  majority 
of  the  lines  traced,  by  running  over  them  from  left  to 
right,  in  the  directions  in  which  they  have  been  recorded. 

Such  are  the  many  important  facts  bearing  upon 
the  psychological  history  of  the  double  personality  ; 
and  these  facts  are  to  be  accurately  ascertained  only  by 
the  regular  application  of  the  graphic  method. 


52 


ON  DO  UBLE  CON  SCI  0 USNESS. 


Fig.  2. — Experiment  upon  P.  S , hemianmsthetic,  on  the  right  side. 

Lines  i and  2 are  a repetition  of  the  experiment  recorded  hy  lines  i and  2 of 
the  first  figure.  Line  3 corresponds  to  voluntary  contractions  of  the  right, 
anaesthetic  arm  after  paralysis  of  the  left,  at  first  sensible,  arm.  Line  4 cor- 
responds to  the  left,  paralyzed  arm.  Line  5 represents  the  automatic  move- 
ments of  the  right  arm,  and  line  6,  taken  at  the  same  time,  represents  the 
automatic  movements  of  the  paralyzed  left  arm,  while  the  patient  is  listening 
to  the  beats  of  the  metronome.  The  lines  are  to  be  read  from  left  to  right. 
Minimum  velocity  of  cylinder. 


THE  EMPLOYMENT  OF  THE  GRAPHIC  METHOD.  53 


This  method  contains  still  another  lesson  for  us. 
Glance  at  the  figures  2 and  3.  The  lines  traced  were 
taken,  during  the  same  experiment  of  course,  after 
having  effected  by  suggestion  a paralysis  of  move- 
ment and  of  sensibility  in  the  left  half  of  the  body, 
which  was  previously  sensible  and  capable  of  move- 
ment. The  changes  produced  at  once  strike  the  eye. 

Beginning  at  the  top,  the  two  first  lines  of  figure  2 
are  taken  before  the  experiment  of  suggestion.  The 
first  line  is  produced  by  the  voluntary  contractions  of 
the  right,  anaesthetic  hand,  and  the  second  line  by  the 
simultaneous  voluntary  contractions  of  the  left,  sen- 
sible hand.  It  is  the  repetition,  pure  and  simple,  of 
the  two  first  lines  of  the  first  figure.  Then  intervenes 
the  suggestion  producing  paralysis.  When  the  para- 
lysis of  the  left  member  is  complete,  the  subject  is 
again  asked  to  squeeze  strongly  his  two  fists ; the  vol- 
untary contractions  of  the  right  arm  have  increased  in 
energy ; those  of  the  left,  anaesthetic  arm  are  scarcely 
perceptible,  and,  furthermore,  they  are  behind,  as  will 
be  seen  from  a comparison  of  lines  3 and  4 of  fig.  2. 

Now  we  set  our  metronome  a-going.  The  auto- 
matic movements  of  the  right  member  remain  almost 
what  they  were  before  the  experiment  of  paralysis  (line 
5 of  fig.  2,  and  line  i of  fig.  3);  by  way  of  compensa- 
tion, however,  those  of  the  left  member  which  were 
imperceptible  before  the  experiment  when  the  member 
was  sensible  and  capable  of  movement,  become  very 
distinct  (line  6 of  fig.  2,  and  line  2 of  fig.  3).  Simi- 
larly, when  the  subject  thinks  of  the  number  3,  the 
movements  are  at  the  same  time  considerable  in  the 
right,  anaesthetic  member  (line  3,  fig.  3)  and  in  the 
left,  anaesthetic  member  (line  4,  fig.  3). 

If  we  seek  to  collect  the  signification  of  these  trac- 


54 


OiV  DOUBLE  CONSCIOUSNESS. 


Fig.  3. — Experiment  with  P.  S , hemian£esthetic,  on  the  right  side. 

Lines  i and  2 are  a repetition  of  the  experiment  recorded  by  the  tracings  5 
and  6 of  the  second  figure.  Line  3 corresponds  to  the  automatic  movements 
of  the  right  arm  while  the  subject  is  thinking  of  the  numbers.  Line  4,  taken 
simultaneously,  corresponds  to  the  automatic  movements  of  the  left,  paralyzed 
arm.  Lines  5 and  6 were  taken  after  the  suppression  of  the  paralysis  and 
while  the  subject  was  listening  to  the  beats  of  the  metronome;  line  5 corre- 
spends  to  the  right,  ancESthetic  arm,  and  line  6 to  the  left  arm,  again  become 
sensible.  The  lines  are  to  be  read  from  left  to  right.  Minimum  velocity  of 
cylinder. 


THE  EMPLOYMENT  OF  THE  GRAPHIC  METHOD.  55 


ings,  we  shall  see,  in  effect,  that  when  suggestion  has 
stricken  the  left  member  with  paralysis,  which  pre- 
viously continued  sensible,  two  simultaneous  facts  are 
produced : its  voluntary  activity  has  diminished  in  in- 
tensity, to  the  extent  that  the  voluntary  contractions 
are  hardly  perceptible,  and  at  the  sam.e  time  its  au- 
tomatic activity  has  increased  correspondingly,  as 
though  there  were  a sort  of  antagonism  between  the 
two  functions.  In  other  words,  by  creating  anaesthesia 
through  suggestion  in  a region  of  the  body,  the  province 
of  the  second  personality  has  been  extended. 

But  it  is  curious  to  remark  that  the  field  of  action 
of  this  second  personality  is  always  limited ; it  cannot 
simultaneously  produce  movements  equally  precise 
in  the  right  and  left  members.  For  instance,  when 
the  subject  thinks  of  the  number  3,  one  arm  will  bet- 
ter express  by  its  movements  the  figure  thought  of, 
than  the  other  (cf.  line  3 and  4 of  fig.  3);  as  if  the  at- 
tention of  the  second  personality  could  not  be  brought 
to  bear  at  the  same  time  upon  both  arms.  This  is  an- 
other circumstance  that  the  graphic  method  alone 
could  reveal. 

We  shall  confine  ourselves  to  these  few  summary 
observations.  It  is  not  our  intention  to  linger  over 
the  detailed  description  of  experimental  facts,  but  only 
to  point  out  the  principle  of  a new  method  adapted  to 
the  scientific  study  of  automatic  writing  and  analogous 
phenomena.  It  is  much  to  be  desired  that  those  who 
have  occasion  to  study  automatic  writing  in  normal 
persons,  or  in  those  who  pretend  to  be  such,  will  sub 
ject  the  movements  performed  by  these  individuals  to 
the  control  of  the  graphic  method. 


THE  INTENSITY  OF  SUB-CONSCIOUS  STATES. 


In  this  new  chapter  of  our  study  of  the  doubling  of 
consciousness  I propose  to  enter  upon  an  exceedingly 
delicate  problem,  and  one  that  is  of  the  greatest  im- 
portance to  psychology.  At  the  Paris  Congress  of 
Physiological  Psychology  recently,  I raised  a discus- 
sion upon  the  subject  in  question,  and  for  the  benefit 
of  the  readers  of  this  review,  I now  desire  again  to 
set  forth  the  opinion  I hold  and  the  experiments  I 
have  instituted ; at  the  same  time  profiting  by  the  va- 
rious remarks  and  objections  that  have  been  addressed 
to  me  by  other  physiologists. 

The  problem  that  I seek  to  solve  is,  to  understand 
how  and  why  in  hysterical  patients  a division  of  con- 
sciousness takes  place.  Not  to  present  the  question  in 
too  abstract  a form,  I shall  recall  to  mind  a few  ex- 
periments that  once  again  may  better  convey  the  idea 
of  what  this  so-called  doubling  of  consciousness 
really  is. 

We  have  repeatedly  seen  that  in  hysterical  anaes- 
thesia sensation  is  preserved  and  may  reappear  in  a 
secondary  consciousness,  distinct  from  the  principal 
consciousness.  The  observations  that  we  have  hitherto 
published  related  to  the  sense  of  touch.  We  showed, 
in  this  way,  that  an  anaesthetic  hand,  hidden  behind  a 
screen,  would  take  a pen  or  pair  of  scissors,  which  had 
been  brought  into  contact  with  it,  and  with  these 


THE  INTENSITY  OF  SUBCONSCIOUS  STATES.  57 


several  objects  would  perform  various  intelligent  move- 
ments ; which  proved  not  only  that  the  contact  of  the 
objects  in  question  had  been  perceived,  but  that  even 
their  nature  and  functions  had  been  recognized.  To 
these  observations  we  are  now  able  to  add  still  others, 
which  show,  that  also  the  sensation  of  pain  may  be 
preserved.  Two  subjects  I observed  revealed  in  one 
half  of  their  bodies  a total  insensibility  to  punctures, 
pressure,  burning, — in  short,  to  the  most  varied  kinds 
of  painful  sensations ; but  when  we  put  a lighted 
match  into  the  anaesthetic  hand,  the  fingers  would 
draw  back  from  the  flame  in  proportion  as  the  latter 
advanced,  and  would  finally  relax,  allowing  the  match 
to  fall  to  the  ground.  Pain  caused  by  burning,  accord- 
ingly, is  actually  felt  in  an  apparently  anaesthetic  limb ; 
there  even  existed,  it  seemed,  a certain  prevision  of 
pain  and  corresponding  defensive  movements  ; yet  all 
this  did  not  reach  the  principal  consciousness  of  the 
subject ; the  sensations  and  movements  of  the  anaes- 
thetic limb,  by  grouping  themselves  together,  formed  a 
secondary  consciousness,  which  in  its  development  did 
not  amalgamate  with  the  main  consciousness.  I must 
add,  that,  according  to  my  own  experience,  it  is  less 
easy  to  impress  on  the  anaesthetic  regions  a sensation 
of  pain  than  a sensation  of  touch  ; with  most  subjects 
the  anaesthetic  hand  which  is  able  to  adjust  itself  in 
adaptation  to  familiar  objects,  does  not  seem  to  feel  the 
sensation  of  pain  caused  by  a burning  match,  and 
does  not  perform  any  defensive  movement  to  avoid  it. 

I trust  that  the  details  given  in  regard  to  the  divi- 
sion of  consciousness  in  hysterical  subjects,  will  suffice 
to  impart  a perceptible  form  to  the  problem  that  we 
are  endeavoring  to  solve.  That  problem  is,  to  find  out 
why  sensations  provoked  in  an  anaesthetic  region  do 


58 


ON  DOUBLE  CONSCIOUSNESS. 


not  reach  the  principal  consciousness  of  the  patient ; 
indeed,  our  wonder  is  all  the  greater  that  the  sensa- 
tions in  question  should  be  perceived  by  another  ego, 
and  should  provoke  appropriate  movements.  In  other 
words,  the  question  we  ask  is,  what  are  the  psycho- 
physiological  conditions  that  determine  the  formation 
of  a second  consciousness  ? Having  put  the  question 
before  the  reader,  we  shall,  for  the  sake  of  greater 
clearness,  at  once  point  out  the  solution  we  propose. 

It  is  a matter  of  observation,  as  we  shall  presently 
show,  that  if  among  sensations  belonging  to  the  same 
organ  of  sense,  (for  example,  to  touch  or  to  sight,) 
some  belong  to  one  consciousness  and  others  to  a dif- 
ferent consciousness,  there  will  exist  among  such  sen- 
sations a difference  of  intensity.  We  are  unable  in 
cases  of  hemi-ansesthesis  to  demonstrate  this  fact  di- 
rectly ; for  it  is  utterly  impossible  to  compare  with 
one  another,  from  the  point  of  view  of  intensity,  the 
tactile  sensations  of  any  two,  sensible  and  insen- 
sible, parts  of  a body;  because  each  of  the  conscious- 
nesses knows  but  one  of  these  two  groups  of  sensa- 
tions. We  may,  however,  take  a roundabout  way, 
and  resort  to  an  artifice  based  upon  the  following  fact, 
that  in  cases  in  which  the  hysterical  patient  presents 
an  approximatively  regular  hemi-anaesthesis,  the  or- 
gans of  sense  situated  in  the  insensible  half  will  share 
the  anaesthesis  to  a less  degree  than  the  skin  will ; thus, 
the  eye  may  reveal  a loss  of  the  perception  of  cer- 
tain colors,  or  a concentrical  contraction  of  the  nor- 
mal field  of  colors.  It  is,  accordingly,  possible  to  in- 
stitute comparative  experiments  upon  the  sensibility 
of  the  healthy  eye,  and  likewise  upon  that  of  the  eye 
on  the  anaesthetic  side,  with  the  view  of  ascertaining 
whether  the  sensations  caused  in  both  eyes  by  a same 


THE  INTENSITY  OF  SUBCONSCIOUS  STATES.  59 


excitant  exhibit  differences  of  quality  or  of  intensity. 
The  two  following  experiments  seem  to  furnish  an  an- 
swer to  this  question. 

M.  Charpentier  has  demonstrated,  that  a minimum 
of  perceptible  color  exists,  depending  upon  the  extent 
of  the  stimulated  part  of  the  retina.  The  same  fact 
is  verified  in  the  hysterical  patient,  5mt  on  a much  ex- 
aggerated scale,  for  in  order  that  an  hysterical  person 
may  be  able  to  perceive  a color,  the  colored  surface 
must  be  larger  than  is  required  for  the  normal  eye. 
Now,  it  is  highly  important  to  be  able  to  establish  that 
the  chromatic  minimum  is  not  the  same  for  both  eyes. 
Let  us  take  an  example.  To  perform  the  experiments, 
it  is  not  necessary  to  employ  pure  colors,  since  the 
main  fact  of  importance  lies  in  the  comparison  of  the 
two  eyes.  Thus,  in  the  case  of  Dem  . . . . , a hemi- 
anaesthetical  patient  on  the  right  side,  a piece  of  red 
paper,  to  be  perceived  as  such  by  the  right  anaesthet- 
ical  eye,  had  to  be  at  least  six  millimetres  square, 
while  in  the  case  of  the  left  eye  two  millimetres  square 
is  a sufficient  size.  It  is  thus  seen  that  the  quantity 
of  excitation  necessary  for  the  production  of  the  sen- 
sation of  red  is  not  the  same  for  both  eyes.  This  is 
not  a matter  of  interpretation,  but  the  actual  fact 
itself;  whence,  it  appears,  we  may  conclude  with  a 
certain  degree  of  probability,  that  if  to  both  eyes  we 
apply  one  and  the  same  excitant,  the  sensation  pro- 
duced on  the  sensible  side  will  possess  a greater  in- 
tensity than  that  produced  on  the  anaesthetical  side.* 

A second  experiment,  likewise  performed  upon  the 
sense  of  vision,  yields  a result  which,  in  my  opinion. 


* M.  Parinaud,  director  of  the  opthalmoscopic  department  at  the  “ Sal- 
petri^re,”  has  verified  the  same  fact  in  a slightly  different  form.  (Anesthesie 
de  la  retine,  Bruxelles,  1886.) 


6o 


OM  DOUBLE  CONSCIOUSNESS. 


leads  to  an  analogous  interpretation.  We  know  that 
when  we  present  simultaneously  to  each  of  both  eyes 
two  surfaces  representing  different  colors,  there  is  pro- 
voked what  is  called  a conflict,  an  antagonism  of  the 
visual  field.  If,  for  example,  we  present  to  the  right 
eye  a red  back-ground,  and  to  the  left  eye  a green 
one,  the  observer  will  perceive  a field  which  seems 
alternately  red  and  green.  I have  attempted  to  repro- 
duce this  experiment  with  hysterical  subjects,  by  em- 
ploying certain  colored  glasses,  that  have  kindly  been 
lent  me  by  M.  Ch.  Henry.  I have  used  only  glasses 
the  color  of  which  my  patients  could  perceive  with 
both  eyes.  In  hemi-ansesthetic  hysterical  subjects, 
submitted  to  my  investigation,  I have  established  the 
fact,  that  there  is  not  produced  a concurrence  of  the 
visual  fields,  as  in  normal  individuals  ; the  color  placed 
before  the  eye  of  the  sensible  side  is  the  only  one 
perceived.  If,  for  example,  into  the  frame  of  a pair 
of  spectacles  we  insert  a red  glass  and  a green  glass, 
which  are  almost  complementary  and,  when  super- 
posed, extinguish  each  other,  the  subject  will  only 
perceive  the  color  of  the  glass  placed  before  the  eye  of 
greater  sensibility  ; he  thus  only  perceives  red  in  the 
one  instance,  and  green  in  the  other.  Like  the  former 
example,  this  new  experiment  seems  to  me  to  demon- 
strate, that,  given  an  equal  degree  of  excitation,  the 
sensations  of  the  sensible  eye  will  present  a greater 
intensity  than  those  of  the  anaesthetic  eye. 

This  conclusion  might  be  further  strengthened  by 
researches  that  I have  recently  made  with  reference  to 
the  times  of  reaction  in  visual  excitations.  The  times 
are  longer  when  the  excitation  is  performed  upon  the 
anaesthetic  eye  ; which  seems  again  to  prove,  that  the 
sensation  of  this  eye,  for  any  one  excitation,  is  of  a 


THE  INTENSITY  OE  SUBCONSCIOUS  STATES.  6i 


less  intensity  than  that  of  the  sensible  eye.  M.  Fer6 
has  made  observations  on  the  times  of  reaction  to  tac- 
tile excitations,  in  cases  of  incomplete  anaesthesias  of 
the  skin,  and  has  obtained  similar  results. 

In  the  researches  of  which  I have  just  given  a con- 
densed exposition,  we  have  hitherto  compared  the 
sensations  produced  in  a sensible  region  and  those 
produced  in  an  anaesthetic  region  from  the  point  of 
view  of  intensity  only.  If  the  conclusion  derived — 
although  provisorily — from  these  first  researches  is  cor- 
rect, we  ought  to  be  able  to  generalize  it,  and  to  as- 
sume in  advance,  that  if  we  progressively  diminish  the 
intensity  of  an  excitant  that  acts  upon  the  more  sen- 
sible organ,  there  must  arrive  a point  at  which  the 
sensation  is  sufficiently  diminished  in  intensity  as  no 
longer  to  form  a part  of  the  secondary  consciousness, 
but  become  sub-conscious,  as  are  the  sensations  of  the 
anaesthetic  regions. 

And  experiments,  indeed,  completely  confirm  this 
prediction.  Here  again  we  are  by  preference  referred 
to  visual  excitants,  in  order,  as  far  as  possible,  to 
obtain  precise  and  mensurable  results. 

We  have,  in  fact,  already  discussed  the  experiment 
required,  in  our  study  of  the  hysterical  eye, — for  which 
see  page  30  et  seqq.  We  have  seen,  that  if  we  place 
an  hysterical  person  before  a graduated  scale  of  let- 
ters, the  writing  of  the  insensible  hand,  unknown  to 
the  subject,  is  able  to  reproduce  diminutive  letters  that 
the  subject  himself  cannot  see.  Now,  it  is  easy  to  es- 
tablish here,  that  a difference  of  intensity  exists  between 
the  sensations  forming  part  of  the  two  consciousnesses. 

The  word  intensity,  I well  know,  has,  when  applied 
to  sensations,  a rather  uncertain  sense.  But  we  call 
attention  to  the  fact,  that  the  intensity  of  visual  sen- 


62 


ON  DOUBLE  CONSCIOUSNESS. 


sation  here  corresponds  to  an  objective  fact,  suscep- 
tible of  measurement — the  size,  namely,  of  the  retinal 
image;  and  all  things  being  otherwise  equal,  it  is  al- 
lowable to  say,  that  to  the  largest  retinal  image  cor- 
responds the  most  intense  visual  sensation.  Now,  just 
as  when  we  diminish  the  retinal  image — through  the 
choice  of  ever  smaller  letters — a point  arrives  where 
the  size  of  the  image  becomes  insufficient  to  allow  of 
reading,  but  nevertheless  is  sufficient  to  determine  au- 
tomatic writing,  it  is  manifest,  that  the  principal  dif- 
ference existing  in  this  case  between  the  sensations  of 
the  two  consciousnesses,  is  a difference  of  intensity. 

This  second  series  of  experiments  reaches,  we  see, 
the  same  conclusion  as  the  former.  We  shall  pres- 
ently expound  still  others,  which  belong  to  an  entirely 
different  order. 

Among  the  most  curious  and  important  facts  that 
have  recently  been  discovered  in  the  domain  of  phys- 
iological psychology,  we  must  mention  the  phenomena 
of  dynamogeny,  as  produced  in  hyperexcitable  sub- 
jects under  the  influence  of  peripheral  excitations, 
that  is  to  say,  of  sensations  of  every  kind.  M.  Fere, 
who  long  has  studied  these  dynamogenetic  actions  of 
sensations,  has  demonstrated  that  they  make  them- 
selves felt  not  only  upon  the  movements,  but  upon  the 
sensibility,  upon  circulation  and  the  other  physiolog- 
ical functions.* 

These  psycho-mechanical  experiments  can  furnish 
a fresh  argument  in  support  of  the  thesis  we  advance ; 
showing,  that  if  the  sensations  we  provoke  in  an 
anaesthetic  limb,  do  not  reach  as  far  as  the  principal 
consciousness  of  the  subject,  it  is  caused  by  lack  of 
intensity.  In  fact,  when  we  subject  the  limb  or  the  in- 


^ Sensation  et  Mouvement.  Paris:  F(5Iix  Alcan. 


THE  INTENSITY  OF  SUBCONSCIOUS  STATES.  63 


sensible  region  to  the  influence  of  a dynamogenetic 
agent,  as  a magnet  or  to  electricity,  the  sensations  pro- 
voked in  this  limb  become  conscious  according  as  the 
power  of  dynamometric  pressure  is  increased  ; there 
is,  accordingly,  probably  produced  the  same  augmen- 
tation of  intensity  in  the  psycho-sensorial  process,  as 
in  the  psycho-motory  process. 

If  there  remained  any  doubt  in  regard  to  the  pre- 
ceding interpretation,  such  doubts,  I trust,  would  be 
destroyed  by  the  recital  of  a somewhat  complex  exper- 
iment upon  the  visual  organ,  which  I have  performed 

upon  several  patients,  and  notably  with  L.  L ■.  Let 

us  again  place  this  subject  before  the  black-board  with 
its  scale  of  written  letters.  The  patient’s  visual  acu- 
ity, as  previously  stated,  is  equal  to  0-5  : the  visual 
acuity,  revealed  by  the  automatic  writing,  is  a trifle 
higher,  it  is  equal  to  075.  If,  while  the  subject  is  at- 
tempting to  decipher  the  letters,  we  subject  him  to  a 
dynamogenetic  excitation,  such  as  a simple  pressure 
upon  the  anaesthetic  hand,  the  visual  acuity  of  the  con- 
scious subject  increases,  it  becomes  equal  to  075, 
and,  consequently,  equal  to  that  which  guides  the  au- 
tomatic writing.  We  are  able  to  interpret  this  first 
result  by  asserting,  that  peripheral  excitation  renders 
conscious  to  the  principal  subject  certain  visual  sen- 
sations, in  that  it  augments  their  intensity. 

But  the  most  curious  fact  that  occurs  in  this  ex- 
periment is  the  following.  This  same  dynamogenetic 
excitation  exerts  its  influence  upon  the  visual  acuity 
that  is  in  connection  with  the  automatic  writing.  The 
measurement  of  this  visual  acuity  shows  even,  that  it 
can  become  equal  to  unity,  namely,  to  that  of  a normal 
eye ; the  acuity  of  conscious  perception  remains  less, 
and  only  attains  075. 


64 


ON  DOUBLE  CONSCIOUSNESS. 


It  is  really  interesting  to  note,  that  a given  periph- 
eral excitation,  which  suffices  to  provoke  automatic 
writing,  is  not  competent  to  provoke  the  conscious 
perception  of  the  principal  ego.  In  other  words,  a 
degree  of  sensorial  intensity  sufficient  to  provoke  au- 
tomatic writing,  does  not  suffice  to  provoke  conscious 
perception  ; which  proves  once  again,  that  there  exists 
a difference  of  intensity  between  the  psychological  phe- 
nomena of  the  two  consciousnesses. 

All  the  experiments  above  expounded  are  sus- 
ceptible of  a very  simple  counter-proof.  Up  to  this 
point  we  have  seen,  that  in  most  cases  we  are  able  to 
render  a sensation  sub-conscious,  by  diminishing  the 
quantity  of  excitation,  or,  inversely,  to  render  a sen- 
sation conscious  by  augmenting  the  quantity  of  exci- 
tation. We  have  not  operated  directly  upon  the  ele- 
ment of  consciousness. 

Hypnotic  suggestion  enables  us  to  modify  this  ele- 
ment, to  suppress  it  when  it  exists,  or  to  create  it,  when 
it  is  lacking.  By  this  means  we  are  able  to  ascertain 
whether  the  conscious  phenomenon  corresponds  to  a 
definitely  determined  degree  of  intensity  of  the  phys- 
iological phenomenon  that  serves  as  its  foundation. 
Upon  this  point,  I have  performed,  in  association  with 
M.  Fer6,  an  experiment  which  seems  to  me  decisive. 
The  experiment  in  question  was  conducted  with  an 
hypnotisable,  hysterical  woman,  who  when  she  volun- 
tarily pressed  the  dynamometer  in  the  state  of  rest  in- 
dicated on  it  the  number  20,  and  when  she  pressed 
the  instrument  while  looking  at  a red-colored  surface, 
the  cipher  40.  With  this  subject  an  hypnotic  sugges- 
tion suppresses  for  a moment  the  conscious  vision  of 
the  red.  Again,  invited  to  press  the  dynamometer, 
while  looking  at  the  red  surface,  which  to  the  subject 


THE  INTENSITY  OF  SUBCONSCIOUS  STATES.  65 


seems  grey,  she  no  longer  indicates  40,  but  a number 
slightly  higher  than  her  normal  figure.  This  experi- 
ment demonstrates  to  us,  that  the  suppression  of  con- 
sciousness is  equivalent  to  a diminution  of  intensity  in 
the  corresponding  physiological  process. 

And  this  conclusion,  which  we  have  already  reached 
a number  of  times,  seems  to  me  to  deserve  an  earnest 
consideration  ; but,  in  order  to  be  well  understood,  it 
needs  to  be  made  precise.  In  short,  the  experiments 
that  we  have  recapitulated  only  seem  to  prove  one 
thing,  viz. : that  a sensation  having  been  given,  whether 
visual,  tactilp,  auditive  or  other,  if  we  diminish  its  in- 
tensity, it  is  no  longer  perceived  by  the  principal  con- 
sciousness, but  may  be  discovered  in  a secondary 
consciousness.  A difference  of  intensity,  accordingly, 
can  serve  to  explain  how  a tactile  sensation  a belongs 
to  the  first  consciousness,  and  a tactile  sensation  ^ be- 
longs to  the  second. 

But,  when  the  sensations  are  of  a different  class, 
this  comparison  of  intensity  becomes  altogether  in- 
sufficient. Thus,  there  are  subjects  who  will  perceive 
an  electric  current  in  a member  where  they  have  lost 
the  sensation  of  mechanical  pressure,  or  of  puncture, 
of  heat,  or  of  cold.  Evidently  we  cannot  explain  this 
disassociation  by  saying  that  electric  sensation  is  more 
intense  than  other  sensations,  because  frequently  the 
very  subjects  that  are  insensible  to  the  strongest  punc- 
tures, are  able  to  feel  even  the  faintest  galvanic  current, 
and  moreover  no  standard  of  comparison  is  really  pos- 
sible between  things  that  are  so  widely  different.  But 
let  us  call  attention  to  the  fact,  that  if  the  explanation 
we  have  proposed,  encounters  at  this  point  a limit, — a 
fact  which  merely  proves  that  it  is  not  general, — never- 
theless, we  are  able  to  establish  that  the  notion  of 


66 


ON  DOUBLE  CONSCIOUSNESS. 


quantity  and  of  intensity  maintains  its  importance, 
even  in  experiments  of  the  kind  referred  to.  There 
are,  in  fact,  many  hysterical  subjects  who  do  not  per- 
ceive the  electrical  excitation  at  the  first  instant  it  is 
applied  to  the  insensible  skin  ; but  if  the  excitation  is 
continued  for  a few  moments,  it  most  frequently  hap- 
pens that  sensibility  to  the  electrical  current  will  be 
aroused  under  the  form  of  a painful  sensation  ; which 
proves  beyond  question,  that  a certain  quantity  of 
electrical  excitation  is  needed  in  order  to  arouse  con- 
scious sensation,  and  that  quality  is  not  the  paramount 
factor. 

In  conclusion  I shall  emphasize  a psychological 
aspect,  which  appears  to  me  of  a certain  importance. 

I do  not  believe  that  a difference  of  intensity  between 
two  sensations  of  the  same  sense  ipso  facto  justifies 
their  distribution  into  two  different  consciousnesses. 
It  is  further  necessary,  that  the  sensation,  however 
faint,  should  not  possess  an  interest,  a practical  im- 
portance that  might  attract  the  attention  of  the  sub- 
ject, and  by  that  very  fact  augment  the  intensity  of 
the  sensation  in  question. 

The  hysterical  subject,  as  I,  with  many  other  ob- 
servers, conceive  him,  is  an  exhausted  subject.  The 
slightest  effort  is  painful  to  him,  and  he  thus  seeks  to 
husband  his  forces.  Like  all  of  us,  he  experiences  a 
vast  number  of  sensations,  differing  both  In  their  inten- 
sity and  quality  . He  makes  a selection  from  among  all 
these  sensations,  because  he  finds  it  too  fatiguing  to 
perceive  them  all.  Generally  speaking,  he  more  care- 
fully preserves  visual  sensations  than  tactile  sensa- 
tions, because  he  can  less  easily  dispense  with  the 

*M.  Pierre  Janet,  k propos  of  my  communication  to  the  Paris  Congress 
had  advanced  an  opinion  which  closely  agrees  with  the  one  I set  forth. 


THE  INTENSITY  OF  SUBCONSCIOUS  STATES.  67 


former  ; and  in  a given  order  of  sensations,  he  pre- 
serves the  most  intense  sensations,  because  the  latter 
are  perceived  with  the  least  effort  of  adaptation  of  the 
sensory  organ.  Such,  in  my  opinion,  is  the  rather  in- 
direct role  of  the  intensity  of  sensation  in  the  division 
of  consciousness. 

It  is  because  feeble  sensations  are  difficult  to  collect 
and  to  arrange,  because  they  exact  greater  attention 
and  greater  effort,  that  the  subject  neglects  them  and 
that  they  form  secondary  consciousnesses.  The  divi- 
sion of  consciousness,  it  seems  to  me,  is  chiefly  ex- 
plainable by  the  mental  habitudes  peculiar  to  the  in- 
dividual. 


THE  ROLE  OF  SUGGESTION  IN  PHENOMENA 
OF  DOUBLE  CONSCIOUSNESS. 


We  shall  conclude  our  investigation  of  the  subject 
of  double  consciousness,  by  attempting  to  define  ac- 
curately the  relations  existing  between  the  phenom- 
ena treated  of  and  those  of  suggestion.  The  subject 
of  suggestion  has  been  extensively  and  carefully  studied, 
of  late  years,  in  France.  At  the  present  day,  the  facts 
of  this  department  are  the  best  known  and  the  least 
discussed.  They  are  daily  reproduced  in  our  hospitals 
upon  subjects  of  the  most  diverse  characters;  and 
they  will  undoubtedly  soon  take  their  place  in  the  cur- 
rent practice  of  medicine.  Some  writers,  of  a type  of 
mind  too  prone  to  generalization,  have  exaggerated 
the  importance  of  suggestion,  and  are  determined  to 
find  suggestion  at  every  turn  ; they  have  asserted  even, 
that  suggestion  is  the  sole  cause  and  key  of  all  phys- 
ical and  moral  phenomena  capable  of  being  provoked 
in  hypnotized  subjects. 

Owing  to  repeated  experiments,  it  is  comparatively 
easy  to  give  a fairly  precise  definition  of  suggestion  ; 
and  such  a definition  is  absolutely  necessary  if  we  de- 
sire to  avoid  the  error  committed  by  many  writers  who 
have  come  to  explain  everything  by  suggestion  only 
because  they  confound  under  this  convenient  term 
things  that  are  quite  different.  First  of  all,  suggestion 
implies,  in  the  majority  of  cases,  the  setting  into  ac- 


SUGGESTION  IN  DOUBLE  CONSCIOUSNESS.  69 


tivity  of  the  intellect  of  the  subject ; it  is  pre-eminently 
a psychological  phenomenon.  When  a hypnotized  sub- 
ject, for  example,  is  told  that  there  is  a snake  or  a 
bird  in  front  of  him,  and  when,  following  thereupon, 
he  fancies  he  sees  a serpent  crawling  at  his  feet,  or  a 
bird  flying  in  the  air,  this  constitutes  a suggestion, 
for,  to  provoke  the  hallucination,  an  appeal  has  been 
made  to  the  intellect  of  the  patient.  The  same  result 
may  be  reached  without  making  use  of  words  to  con- 
vey to  the  subject  the  thought  in  question : oftentimes 
a simple  gesture,  a sign,  an  attitude,  or  even  the  form 
of  the  experiment,  are  sufficient  to  apprise  the  subject 
of  what  the  experimenter  wishes  ; and  the  thought  that 
the  latter  has  in  mind  is  often  hit  upon  and  carried 
into  execution  by  the  subject  with  a rapidity  and  a sa- 
gacity that  are  astonishing.  In  this  phenomenon  we 
come  upon  one  of  the  greatest  obstacles  and  one  of 
the  most  easily  committed  errors  attending  psycholog- 
ical experiments  with  hypnotized  subjects. 

A second  feature  of  suggestion,  at  least  in  the  ma- 
jority of  cases,  is  the  assumption  of  an  influence  exerted 
by  one  person  upon  another.  The  subject  of  the  sug- 
gestion is  at  the  orders  of  the  experimenter  ; he  listens, 
he  appropriates  the  latter’s  thought,  he  feels  every- 
thing the  experimenter  desires  him  to  feel,  obeys  every 
wish  and  every  caprice  the  experimenter  entertains. 
The  instances  of  resistance  offered,  frequently  met 
with,  are  evidence  of  incomplete  hypnotization  or  of 
incomplete  suggestion.  Of  the  observations  that  firmly 
establish  this  passive  obedience  on  the  part  of  the  sub- 
ject, I shall  cite  that  of  M.  Richet  which  I deem  very 
remarkable.  The  experiment  was  conducted  with  one 
of  his  friends,  whom,  after  having  been  put  to  sleep, 
M.  Richet  compelled  to  pick  up,  twenty  times  in  sue- 


70 


ON  DOUBLE  CONSCIOUSNESS. 


cession,  a piece  of  chalk  that  he  kept  throwing  under 
the  table. 

Such  is  what  contemporary  authors  understand  by 
suggestion.  The  notion  currently  entertained  thereof 
may  be  explained  by  putting  it  into  such  a form  as  this, 
namely,  that  it  is  the  setting  into  activity  of  the  intel- 
lect of  a subject  by  another  person,  who  exerts  upon 
the  subject  a power  more  or  less  absolute. 

I have  no  hesitation  in  declaring,  for  my  part,  that 
a definition  of  this  sort  is  beyond  question  insufficient 
and  that  it  would  be  unsafe  to  accept  it  it  is  much 
too  broad  ; it  comprehends  too  many  facts  ; it  com- 
prises, in  effect,  all  psychology,  and  on  this  score  every 
psychological  phenomenon  becomes  a phase  of  sug- 
gestion— a state  of  affairs  that  would  divest  words  of 
their  worth  and  complicate  all  questions  involved. 
With  a very  few  authors,  among  them  M.  Pierre  Janet 
for  example,  I hold  that  we  must  restrict  the  term  sug- 
gestion to  cases,  precisely  determined,  in  which  a sub- 
ject carries  into  effect  a given  phenomenon  because  he 
has  previously  had  the  idea  of  it.  He  has  conceived  the 
phenomenon,  he  has  willed  it,  or  at  least  he  has  given 
it  his  adhesion,  and  he  carries  it  out.  Such  is  sugges- 
tion. For  example,  we  tell  him  to  steal  a handkerchief ; 
he  understands  what  we  require  of  him,  and  does  it. 
Or  perhaps,  we  tell  him  that  his  picture  is  drawn  upon 
a sheet  of  white  paper ; he  understands  what  is  told 
him,  he  represents  to  himself  the  portrait  and  believes 
he  sees  it.  In  all  these  cases,  we  establish,  when  we 
analyze  them,  the  fact  that  the  subject  is  conscious  of 
the  end  that  he  pursues  and  that  the  experimenter  has 
indicated  it  to  him. 

A psychologist  will  have  no  difficulty  in  recognizing 
that  suggestion,  understood  in  the  sense  last  indicated. 


SUGGESTION  Ilsr  DOUBLE  CONSCIOUSNESS.  71 


pre-supposes  a great  number  of  intellectual  elements. 
It  appeals,  in  the  first  place,  to  the  functions  of  per- 
ception, then  to  the  functions  of  ideation,  of  compre- 
hension ; the  entire  intelligence  can,  in  certain  cases, 
intervene  in  the  shape  of  reasoning,  of  memory,  and 
of  imagination  ; and  finally,  the  will,  the  emotions,  the 
entire  personality  of  the  subject  may  play  a part  in  it, 
be  it  by  engaging  in  the  suggestion,  be  it  through 
modifying  the  same,  or  in  opposing  it.  Suggestion 
clearly  represents  an  intellectual  activity  that  is  ex- 
tremely elevated  and  complex. 

But  it  is  plain  that  all  the  manifestations  of  the 
mind  can  not  be  referred  to  a phenomenon  of  this 
kind,  as  type.  Every  one  possesses,  within  the  sphere 
of  his  psychological  life,  acts  of  a more  simple,  of  a 
more  elementary  order ; and  these  more  elementary 
acts  must,  in  hypnotized  subjects,  plainly  be  retained. 
The  following  are  instances  of  such  acts.  If  some  one 
sharply  strike  our  knee,  at  the  tendon  just  below  the 
cap,  while  our  legs  are  crossed,  we  will  suddenly  lift 
and  extend  the  leg  outward ; if  a person,  behind  us, 
strike,  unawares,  a vigorous  blow  with  a stick  upon  a 
Chinese  gong,  we  will  be  stunned  by  the  deafening 
sound  for  which  we  were  unprepared,  and  will  make  a 
gesture  of  surprise  or  of  fright,  or  wa  will  give  forth  a 
cry.  We  have  here,  it  may  be  said,  elementary  psy- 
chological phenomena  ; which  do  not  contain  a trace 
of  suggestion,  for  we  have  not  had  the  idea  or  the  in- 
tention of  making  a movement  of  our  leg  before  receiv- 
ing the  blow  at  the  knee,  or  the  idea  of  crying  out  be- 
fore having  heard  the  noise  made  by  the  gong.  Now 
the  fact  that  these  phenomena  are  produced  in  hyp- 
notized subjects  is  no  reason  that  they  should  alter  in 


72 


ON  DOUBLE  CONSCIOUSNESS. 


character,  and  we  believe,  accordingly,  that  suggestion 
does  not  comprehend  all  psychological  phenomena. 

The  reader  is  now  well  enough  acquainted  with  the 
subject  to  understand  why  it  is  insufficient  to  explain 
everything  that  takes  place  in  hypnotized  subjects  by 
invoking  the  hackneyed  term  suggestion.  “Sugges- 
tion,” people  say.  And  that  suffices  for  all  purposes, 
that  explains  everything,  and  like  the  panacea  of  the 
ancients  it  cures  everything.  As  a matter  of  fact, 
theories  of  suggestion,  thus  invoked,  amount  to  noth- 
ing less  than  make-shifts  to  save  people  the  trouble 
of  serious  and  delicate  investigation. 

We  have  now  come  to  the  especial  subject  of  our 
inquiries.  Without  doubt,  we  shall  find  here  sugges- 
tion ; but  it  is  not  suggestion  that  explains  the  divi- 
sion of  consciousness  in  hysterical  patients,  at  least  the 
spontaneous  division  observable  in  persons  affected 
with  anaesthesia.  Far  from  being  the  cause  of  the 
division  of  consciousness,  it  is  its  effect.  This  latter 
idea  was  first  propounded  by  M.  Pierre  Janet,  and  ap- 
pears to  me  eminently  correct.  A word  will  suffice  to 
elucidate  it. 

Suggestion,  when  successful,  consists  of  an  idea 
impressed  upon  a person  and  reigning  dominant  in  the 
consciousness  of  that  person  ; reason,  critical  powers, 
and  will  are  impotent  to  restrain  it.  If  a subject  be- 
lieves he  is  holding  a bird  upon  his  knee,  in  conse- 
quence of  the  simple  fact  that  I have  told  him  so,  the 
conclusion  evidently  is  that  he  has  lost  the  power  of 
controlling,  examining,  and  judging  the  ideas  given 
him.  For  suggestion  to  develop  itself,  accordingly,  it 
is  necessary  that  the  subject’s  field  of  consciousness  do 
not  contain  too  many  antagonistic  ideas.  Now,  it  is 
exactly  this  psychological  situation  that  is  found  realiz- 


SUGGESTION  IIV  DOUBLE  CONSCIOUSNESS.  73 


ed  in  the  duplication  of  consciousness.  As  a conse- 
quence of  such  a phenomenon  of  bipartition,  each  of 
the  consciousnesses  occupies  a more  narrow  and  more 
limited  field  than  if  there  existed  one  single  conscious- 
ness containing  all  the  ideas  of  the  subject.  This  re- 
trenchment of  the  field  of  consciousness  constitutes 
what  is  called  suggestibility. 

We  are  able,  to  a certain  extent,  to  test  directly  the 
exactitude  of  the  interpretation  indicated,  by  recur- 
ring anew  to  the  experiments  set  forth  in  our  previous 
articles.  When  an  hysterical  subject  presents  an 
anaesthesia  of  half  of  the  body,  the  sensations  received 
into  that  half  form,  as  we  have  seen,  a consciousness 
distinct  from  the  principal  consciousness.  Now,  in 
many  subjects,  this  second  consciousness  appears  to 
occupy  a field  of  activity  much  more  limited  than  the 
principal  consciousness,  for  the  suggestions  given  it 
are  executed  in  a more  automatic  manner.  For  ex- 
ample, let  us  command  the  subject,  that  is  to  say,  the 
principal  consciousness,  to  take  a pen  and  to  write  his 
name;  perhaps  the  subject  will  obey  our  injunction, 
but  it  is  also  possible  that  he  will  resist  it,  and  that  in 
the  waking  state  he  will  be  very  slightly  susceptible 
to  suggestion  ; the  field  of  his  consciousness  includes 
a certain  number  of  antagonistic  ideas  against  wrych 
a struggle  must  ensue,  and  over  which  victory  is  not 
always  certain.  But  the  case  is  quite  different  when, 
without  saying  a word  to  the  subject,  we  slip  a pen 
into  his  anaesthetic  hand,  and  make  him  trace  a word 
behind  a screen  ; the  anaesthetic  hand,  in  the  majority 
of  subjects,  does  not  hesitate  to  re-write  the  word  ; in- 
deed, it  will  write  it  successively  a great  many  times 
— proving  the  limited  power  of  initiative  of  the  impov- 
erished consciousness  that  receives  the  sensations  of 


74 


ON  DOUBLE  CONSCIOUSNESS. 


the  anaesthetic  member.  This  incessant  repetition  of 
the  same  graphical  movement  has  been  discovered  in 
several  pathological  cases,  and  the  name  of  “verbige- 
ration ” has  been  given  it.  This  absence  of  the  power 
of  initiative  action  is  indeed  so  great  that  in  the  major- 
ity of  subjects  that  I have  studied,  a suggestion  of  con- 
duct or  action  through  the  intermediary  agency  of  the 
anaesthetic  hand  could  not  possibly  be  effected.  If 
we  cause  to  be  written  by  the  anaesthetic  hand  the 
orders  “ Cough,”  “Sing,”  “ Get  up,”  the  hand  will 
reproduce  automatically  the  order  written,  but  the  act 
suggested  will  not  be  carried  into  execution.  This 
circumstance  shows  us  that  the  phenomena  of  auto- 
matic imitation  constitute  an  inferior  psychological 
life. 

M.  Pierre  Janet,  whom  I have  frequently  cited — 
for  he  has  pushed  his  investigations  very  far  upon  this 
particular  question  and  his  conclusions  often  coincide 
with  my  own — has  discovered  an  interesting  method 
of  utilizing  this  especial  suggestibility  produced  by  the 
division  of  consciousness.  Although  1 have  no  inclin- 
ation, on  this  occasion,  to  occupy  myself  with  anything 
that  relates  to  the  practice  of  medicine,  I may  neverthe- 
less point  out  that  our  researches  in  the  province 
of  psychology  may  in  case  of  necessity  possess  a very 
great  advantage  for  patients  and  contribute  greatly  to 
the  treatment  of  their  diseases. 

Up  to  this  point  I have  investigated  only  that  divi- 
sion of  consciousness  that  is  spontaneous,  that  pre- 
exists in  subjects  before  any  sort  of  experiment  is  in- 
stituted. M.  Janet  has  invented  an  ingenious  means 
of  effecting  an  artificial  division  ; it  consists  in  distract- 
ing the  attention  of  the  subject  while  some  one  is  talk- 
ing to  him.  For  example,  we  take  advantage  of  a 


SUGGESTION  IN  DOUBLE  CONSCIOUSNESS.  75 


moment  when  the  subject  is  chatting  with  some  other 
person,  or  is  absorbed  perhaps  in  a fascinating  book, 
to  talk  to  him  in  a low  voice ; whereupon  a mental 
bipartition  is  produced  ; one  part  of  the  subject’s  mind 
is  conversing  with  the  first-mentioned  person,  and 
another  part  with  the  second.  Two  distinct  conscious- 
nesses are  thus  formed,  and  each  one  is  wholly  occu- 
pied with  the  task  before  it.  The  suggestions  that  can 
be  induced  in  this  manner  in  a subject  divided  by 
distraction,  are  much  more  efficacious  than  direct  sug- 
gestions ; they  have,  in  addition,  the  advantage  of 
being  capable  of  accomplishment  without  it  being 
necessary  to  put  the  subject  to  sleep,  and  we  warmly 
recommend  this  class  to  all  those  who  seek  to  alleviate 
the  diseases  of  hysterical  patients. 


DOUBLE  CONSCIOUSNESS  IN  HEALTH* 


The  preceding  experiments  have  been  made  with 
hysterical  ‘subjects’.  It  has  seemed  to  me  useful  to 
try  if  I could  obtain  analogous  results  in  subjects  that 
are  normal — or  nearly  so,  for,  of  course,  the  normal 
type  has  only  an  ideal  existence.  It  is  certain  that,  if 
we  succeed  in  seizing  in  a healthy  individual  the  least 
degree  of  the  phenomena  of  duplication  which  are  so 
developed  in  the  hysterical,  a solid  basis  will  be  given 
to  the  psychological  study  of  double  consciousness  ; 
each  observer  being  put  in  a position  to  check  all  the 
facts  advanced.  I have  made  my  investigations  on 
five  persons,  wHo  have  been  kind  enough  to  submit 
themselves  patiently  to  very  long,  very  minute,  and 
very  monotonous  experiments.  So  that,  proceeding 
from  the  results  obtained  and  set  forth  in  the  forego- 
ing pages,  we  shall  now  endeavor  to  find  out  whether 
the  phenomena  of  the  duplication  of  consciousness  are 
to  be  met  with  in  non-hysterical  subjects. 

* 

* * 

The  persons  on  whom  I have  experimented  are 
two  ladies  of  fifty,  a lady  of  thirty,  and  two  of  twenty- 
five  years  of  age.  One  lady  of  fifty  is  ataxical ; the  lady 
of  thirty  is  decidedly  anaemic  ; otherwise,  all  of  them 
enjoy  good  health.  They  have  little  intellectual  cul- 

* This  article  first  appeared  in  Mind,  No.  LVII,  from  which  with  the 
permission  of  the  publishers  it  has  been  reprinted. 


DOUBLE  CONSCIOUSNESS  IN  HEALTH. 


77 


ture,  are  completely  ignorant  of  the  aim  of  the  experi- 
ments, and  know,  of  course,  nothing  of  researches  on 
double  consciousness  or  the  like.  I sat  with  each  of 
them,  on  an  average,  six  times,  for  three-quarters  of 
an  hour.  The  phenomena  became  gradually  more 
marked,  and  without  doubt  would  become  still  more 
so  if  the  treatment  were  pushed  farther.  Lately  I 
have  attended  to  the  question  whether  suggestible 
persons  present  a narrowing  of  the  field  of  conscious- 
ness, that  is  to  say,  a difficulty  in  occupying  themselves 
with  several  things  at  a time."*"  I think  I may  answer 
that  it  is  not  so  with  those  of  my  subjects  who  present 
the  most  developed  automatic  phenomena  ; in  fact, 
they  can  do  at  the  same  time  very  complicated  things, 
for  example,  perform  a mental  addition,  and  squeeze, 
in  series  of  five  or  six  pressures,  an  india-rubber  tube 
connected  with  a registering  apparatus.  I shall  return 
to  this  question  later  on. 

A word,  first  of  all,  on  the  experimental  conditions 
selected.  When  experiments  are  made  on  an  hyster- 
ical subject  with  an  insensitive  limb,  it  is  relatively 
easy  to  submit  that  limb  to  excitations  of  which  the 
subject  has  no  consciousness.  If,  for  example,  it  is 
the  arm  of  the  subject  that  is  insensible,  this  is 
placed  behind  a screen,  the  skin  is  excited  without  the 
subject’s  perceiving  the  excitation,  and  the  move- 
ments— often  very  intelligent — which  the  hand  and 
the  forearm  execute  in  response  to  that  excitation  are 
produced  outside  the  consciousness  of  the  subject,  and 
prove  consequently  that  there  exists  in  the  subject  a 
second  consciousness. 

But  when  the  subject  of  the  experiments  has  not 
the  least  insensibility,  it  is  necessary  to  change  the 

* Pierre  Janet,  V Automatisme psychologique , p.  456. 


78 


ON  DOUBLE  CONSCIOUSNESS. 


method.  If  his  hand,  placed  behind  the  screen,  is 
touched,  he  feels  that  it  is  touched,  and  the  move- 
ment by  which  he  responds  to  this  sensation  is  equally 
conscious  ; there  is  no  double  consciousness  there. 
To  evoke  double  consciousness,  it  is  therefore  neces- 
sary to  render  the  subject  insensible  to  the  excitations 
brought  to  bear  upon  his  limb,  and,  for  that  purpose, 
to  distract  him  by  occupying  him  otherwise  ; distrac- 
tion, as  M.  Pierre  Janet  has  well  shown,  being  a trans- 
itory ansesthesia. 

I therefore  requested  my  subjects — to  whom,  of 
course,  no  explanation  was  given  of  what  was  going 
to  be  done — to  seat  themselves  before  a table  and 
leave  their  right  hands  to  me,  while  I gave  them 
something  interesting  to  read.  In  these  conditions 
one  fact  first  showed  itself  which  is  worthy  of  remark. 
If  the  hand  of  one  of  my  subjects  was  pricked  while  she 
was  reading  attentively,  the  sensation  was  less  well 
perceived  than  when  the  subject,  without  looking  at 
her  hand,  was  told  that  she  was  going  to  be  pricked  and 
was  prepared  to  receive  the  sensation  ; for  example, 
the  separation  necessary  for  the  two  points  of  a com- 
pass to  be  felt  as  double  was  greater  in  the  first  case. 
This,  then,  is  anaesthesia  by  distraction  ; it  is  fugitive, 
passing  deceptive, — but  it  exists. 

I could  render  it  stronger  by  means  of  an  artifice. 
Provoking  different  movements  in  the  limb  experi- 
mented on,  I requested  the  subject  to  execute  no 
movement,  to  leave  her  hand,  for  example,  completely 
motionless  and  relaxed,  and  at  the  same  time  made 
her  believe  that  it  was  I who,  by  slight  pushes  on  the 
pencil  or  on  the  hand,  made  the  latter  move.  Thanks 
to  this  little  deception,  the  subject  would  pay  no  at- 
tention to  those  slight  movements  of  her  hand,  but 


DOUBLE  CONSCIOUSN'ESS  IN  HEALTH. 


79 


attribute  them  to  the  experimenter.  Evidently  these 
(very  delicate)  psychological  conditions  will  vary  from 
one  subject  to  another ; but  for  the  moment  we  need 
take  no  account  of  the  variations. 

One  of  the  experiments  it  appeared  to  me  easiest 
to  effect  was  that  of  the  repetition  of  passive  move- 
ments. A pencil  being  placed  in  the  hand  of  the  sub- 
ject, who  was  attentively  reading  a journal,  I made 
the  hand  trace  a uniform  movement,  choosing  that 
which  it  executes  with  most  facility,  for  example, 
shadings  or  curls  or  little  dots.  Having  communicated 
these  movements  for  some  minutes,  I left  the  hand  to 
itself  quite  gently  ; the  hand  continued  the  movement 
a little.  After  three  or  four  experiments  the  repeti- 
tion of  the  movement  became  more  perfect,  and,  with 

Mile.  G , for  example,  at  the  fourth  sitting  the 

repetition  was  so  distinct  that  the  hand  traced  as 
many  as  eighty  curls  without  stopping. 

It  is  for  the  experimenter  to  choose  with  each  sub- 
ject the  easiest  kind  of  movement.  I find  that  in  gen- 
eral those  movements  are  easiest  that  can  be  executed 
with  a continous  siroke. 

In  the  first  experiments,  when  the  hand  had  been 
successfully  habituated  to  repeating  a certain  kind  of 
movement — for  example,  curls — it  was  to  this  kind  of 
movement  that  it  had  a tendency  to  return.  If  it  was 
made  to  trace  the  figure  i a hundred  times  and  was 
afterwards  left  to  itself,  the  stroke  of  the  figure  became 
rapidly  modified,  and  turned  into  a curl.  This  shows 
well  how  rudimentary,  as  yet,  was  the  motor  memory 
that  was  being  developed. 

When  any  kind  of  movement  had  been  well  re- 
peated, it  could  be  reproduced  without  solicitation 
every  time  a pen  was  put  in  the  subject’s  hand  and 


8o 


ON  DOUBLE  CONSCIOUSNESS. 


she  fixed  her  attention  on  reading.  But  if  the  sub- 
ject thought  attentively  of  her  hand,  the  movement 
stopped. 

I have  selected  graphic  movements  because  they 
are  sufficiently  delicate  to  be  produced  without  awak- 
ening the  attention  of  the  subject,  whereas  move- 
ments of  flexion  and  extension  impnessed  upon  the 
fingers  or  the  wrist  would  with  difficulty  pass  unper- 
ceived at  the  beginning  of  the  experiments. 

Movements  of  flexion  and  e»xtension  can  never- 
theless be  developed,  and  I have  ascertained  that  it  is 
easier  to  get  a total  movement  of  the  wrist  repeated 
automatically  than  an  isolated  movement  of  flexion  of 
one  of  the  fingers. 

When  these  movements  of  repetition  become  very 
distinct,  they  may  come  to  be  generalized  and  to 
appear  in  the  other  limb. 

A second  observation  relates  to  the  influence  which 
the  contact  of  the  experimenter  exercises  on  the  hand 
experimented  on.  With  a slight  pressure  I was  able 
to  make  the  hand  go  obediently  in  all  directions,  car- 
rying the  pen  with  it.  This  is  not  a simple  mechanical 
compulsion,  for  a very  feeble  and  very  short  contact 
is  sufficient  to  bring  on  a very  long  movement  of  the 
hand.  The  phenomenon,  I believe,  can  be  approx- 
imated to  a rudimentary  suggestion  by  the  sense  of 
touch.  Nothing  is  more  curious  than  to  see  the  hand 
of  a person  who  is  awake  and  thinks  she  is  in  full 
possession  of  herself  implicitly  obey  the  experi- 
menter’s orders.  In  these  conditions  there  appears 
to  me  to  be  a partial  hypnotisation. 

It  sometimes  happens  that  the  subject  perceives 
these  movements ; but  the  perception  is  much  less 
distinct  than  in  the  normal  state.  You  can  assure 


DOUBLE  CONSCIOUSNESS  IN  HEALTH. 


8i 


yourself  of  this  by  requesting  the  subject  to  describe 
exactly  the  movement  she  has  been  made  to  execute. 

The  necessary  condition  for  the  preceding  reactions 
is,  that  attention  should  not  be  fixed  on  the  hand  and 
what  is  taking  place  there.  So  far,  I have  realised 
this  condition  by  making  the  subject  attend  to  some- 
thing else,  viz.,  reading,  which  is  an  intellectual  oper- 
ation, having  nothing  in  common  with  the  excitations 
that  produce  manual  movements.  Thanks  to  this 
artifice,  the  excitations, — for  example,  the  contact  of 
the  experimenter  or  the  passive  movement  impressed, 
— produced  their  full  and  entire  effect  on  the  psycho- 
motor centres  of  the  arm,  without  the  attention  and 
will  of  the  subject  interfering  to  modify  the  reac- 
ions. 

Curiously,  this  result  can  be  attained  by  quite  op- 
posite means.  Instead  of  the  attention  of  the  subject 
being  attracted  elsewhere,  it  may  be  fixed  on  the  par- 
ticular excitations  that  are  to  set  going  the  psycho- 
motor mechanism  of  the  hand. 

The  following  is  the  clearest  example  that  I have 
been  able  to  establish.  Place  a metronome  before 
the  subject  and  set  it  in  motion.  Let  the  subject 
be  requested  to  listen  with  the  greatest  attention  to 
the  hard  sharp  sound  of  the  metronome,  while  the 
hand  holds  a pen.  Pretty  rapidly  you  can  habituate 
the  hand  of  the  subject  to  trace  with  the  pen  little 
strokesthat  follow  the  rhythm  of  the  metronome.  Some 
persons  even  attain  to  doing  it  spontaneously. 

In  this  experiment  it  is  sufficient  for  the  subject 
to  listen  with  attention  to  the  sound  in  order  to  cease 
to  perceive  the  movements  produced  in  the  hand  by 
the  acoustic  excitation.  The  excitation  and  the  move- 
ment are  nevertheless  cause  and  effect.  They  are 


82 


ON'  DOUBLE  CONSCIOUSNESS. 


two  elements  of  the  same  psycho-motor  process  ; and 
a priori  it  might  have  been  thought  that  the  attention 
fixed  on  one  of  these  elements  should  naturally  extend 
to  those  associated  with  it. 

Excitation  of  the  movements  of  the  hand  may  be 
produced  not  only  by  external  sensations,  but  by  ideas 
that  strongly  occupy  the  mind  of  the  subject.  If 
the  subject  thinks  forcibly  of  a name  or  of  a figure 
while  holding  a pen  in  the  hand,  and  if  the  experi- 
menter himself  holds  the  hand  of  the  subject  it  hap- 
pens pretty  often  that  the  hand  executes  movements 
distinct  enough  for  the  experimenter  to  be  able  to  di- 
vine his  subject’s  thought.  This  is  the  phenomenon 
of  automatic  writing,  which  has  been  studied  at  length 
within  the  last  years.  I have  nothing  new  to  add, 
unless  it  be  the  remark  that  concentration  of  thought 
on  a figure  is  sufficient  to  produce  a state  of  distraction 
from  the  movements  of  the  hand  that  is  writing  the 
figure. 

The  experiment  with  the  metronome  gives  occasion 
for  a remark  as  to  the  effect  of  attention  on  the  in- 
tensity of  sensations.  As  long  as  the  subject  listens 
to  the  beats  of  the  metronome,  the  rhythmical  move- 
ments of  the  hand  go  on.  They  become  much  feebler 
and  may  even  cease  completely  if  the  subject  is  re- 
quested not  to  listen  any  longer,  but  to  think  of  some- 
thing else.  This  observation  has  already  been  made  on 
hysterical  subjects,  and  in  much  better  conditions;  for 
the  rhythmic  movements  of  the  hysterical  subject’s  in- 
sensible limb  are,  as  we  have  seen,  so  considerable  that 
they  translate  themselves,  when  the  subject  holds  an 
india-rubber  tube,  into  pressures  on  the  tube.  We  were 
therefore  able  to  register  these  movements  by  the 
graphic  method  ; and  the  tracings  obtained  show  that 


DOUBLE  CONSCIOUSNESS  IN  HEALTH. 


83 


there  is  a great  difference  in  the  extent  of  the  contrac- 
tions, according  as  the  subject  listens  with  attention 
to  the  sound  of  the  metronome  or  tries  not  to  hear  it. 

This  experiment  on  the  hysterical,  taken  along 
with  that  which  has  just  been  described  on  healthy 
subjects,  proves,  in  my  opinion,  that  there  is  in  us  a 
power  of  augmenting  the  intensity  of  an  excitation 
whenever  we  attend  to  it.  Attention  is  comparable  to 
will ; it  is,  in  fact,  nothing  else  than  will  directed  to- 
wards the  organs  of  the  senses  and  the  processes  of 
ideation.  Just  as  by  the  will  we  can  stop  a movement 
or  augment  its  energy,  so  by  attention  we  can  weaken 
or  augment  the  effect  of  a peripheral  excitation.  But 
I reserve  the  study  of  attention  for  another  time. 

My  aim  here  was  simply  to  show  that  the  rudi- 
ment of  those  states  of  double  consciousness  which  we 
have  studied  first  in  the  hysterical,  may  with  a little 
attention  be  found  in  normal  subjects.  This  result 
might  have  been  inferred  from  the  numerous  observa- 
tions on  automatic  writing  which  have  been  made  on 
subjects  free  from  hysteria.  Automatic  writing  is  the 
best  known  of  these  facts  of  double  consciousness  ; but 
we  have  seen  that  it  is  not  isolated.  It  is  only  one  in  a 
large  class  of  phenomena,  others  being  the  repetition 
of  communicated  movements,  suggestion  by  contact, 
insensibility  by  distraction,  &c.  All  these  phenomena, 
when  brought  together,  throw  light  on  one  another 
and  attest  the  formation  of  a centre  of  consciousness 
functioning  independently  of  the  common  centre.  My 
experiments  appear  to  me  to  demonstrate  that  many 
normal  subjects,  if  not  all,  are  apt  to  have  their 
psycho-motor  centres  thus  disaggregated. 

Of  course  my  experiments  were  not  complicated 
enough  to  prove  that  the  psycho-motor  centres  of  the 


84 


ON  DOUBLE  CONSCIOUSNESS. 


hand  and  arm,  which  I have  caused  to  act  indepen- 
dently, are  accompanied  by  states  of  consciousness. 

I have  therefore  not  succeeded  in  demonstrating 
double  consciousness  in  healthy  as  in  hysterical  sub- 
jects. I have  only  established  the  existence  of  the 
first  degree  of  the  phenomenon. 

Of  the  five  subjects  specially  studied,  I have  only 
found  one — a lady  of  fifty — who,  in  spite  of  repeated 
experiments,  displayed  neither  automatic  writing,  nor 
suggestion  of  the  hand  by  contact,  nor  automatic 
repetition  of  movements.  The  only  fact  observed 
with  this  lady  is  that,  when  she  reads  while  holding  a 
pen  in  the  position  necessary  for  writing,  her  right 
hand  insensibly  traces  with  the  pen  a straight  line 
from  left  to  right.  I must  add  that  she  declares  her- 
self almost  incapable  of  attentively  following  her  read- 
ing while  experiments  are  being  made  on  her  hand  ; 
her  attention,  in  spite  of  every  effort,  goes  with  curios- 
ity to  her  hand  and  spies  out  all  that  is  taking  place 
there. 

The  four  other  persons  who  submitted  themselves 
to  my  researches  displayed  the  phenomena  of  double 
consciousness.  In  two  these  phenomena  were  rudi- 
mentary ; in  the  two  others  they  were  very  developed. 
According  to  their  own  evidence,  these  four  subjects 
can  fix  their  attention  on  their  reading  with  sufficient 
force  not  to  feel  anything  that  is  taking  place  in  their 
hand. 

It  seemed  to  me  then  that  attention  was  an  impor- 
tant condition  of  the  success  of  my  researches.  Accord- 
ingly, I made  the  following  experiment  on  my  two  best 
subjects. 

I studied  first  the  repetition  of  passive  movements 
whilst  reading  was  occupying  their  attention  other- 


DOUBLE  CONSCIOUSNESS  IN  HEALTH. 


85 


wise.  The  repetition  was  very  distinct  and  developed. 
It  might  continue  more  than  a minute  without  the 
knowledge  of  the  subject.  If,  for  example,  the  pencil 
held  in  the  hand  had  been  made  to  trace  a series  of 
curls,  the  hand  went  on  of  itself  to  trace  as  many  as 
a hundred  more. 

I now  requested  the  subject  to  leave  off  her  read- 
ing, to  close  her  eyes,  and  to  think  with  all  possible 
attention  of  what  was  taking  place  in  her  hand.  In 
these  new  conditions  the  repetition  of  passive  move- 
ments appeared  to  diminish.  When  I asked  the 
subject  to  look  attentively  at  her  hand  while  it  was 
being  made  to  trace  curls,  the  movement  stopped  be- 
fore it  had  well  begun.  The  stoppage  was  here  caused 
by  the  attention  of  the  subject,  by  her  will ; in  short, 
by  all  the  elements  of  her  personality. 

This  is  not  all.  I requested  the  same  subject  to 
resume  her  reading,  and  began  again  to  impress 
movements  on  her  hand.  Under  the  influence  of  this 
mental  distraction,  the  repetition  of  the  movement  re- 
appeared ; but  it  was  much  less  distinct  than  before. 
The  experiments  had  somehow  instructed  the  subject, 
and  it  is  probable  that,  in  spite  of  the  attention  she 
gave  to  her  reading,  she  watched  her  hand  and  pre- 
vented the  movements  from  taking  place. 

At  this  point  I thought  of  an  experiment  which 
has  thrown  light  on  the  very  delicate  mechanism  of 
these  psycho-motor  reactions.  Instead  of  occupying 
the  subject  with  easy  reading,  I put  before  her  a long 
addition-sum,  and  required  her  to  do  it  without  the 
smallest  mistake.  What  I had  foreseen  happened  ; 
repetition  of  the  movements  communicated  to  the 
hand  began  again,  with  a distinctness  and  a persist- 
ency which  it  did  not  possess  during  the  reading. 


86 


ON  DOUBLE  CONSCIOUSNESS. 


This  experiment  gave  me  the  key  to  the  problem  I 
was  trying  to  solve.  I think  I may  sum  up  my  last 
result  thus  : the  state  of  voluntary  distraction  produced 
in  the  subject  by  the  more  exacting  operation  of  ad- 
dition prevents  the  consciousness,  the  attention  and 
the  will  from  inhibiting  the  movements  of  the  hand. 

A conclusion  like  this  will  perhaps,  for  a superfi- 
cial reader,  have  the  appearance  of  a truism,  and  I 
should  be  very  glad  if  it  appeared  absolutely  common- 
place. But,  when  examined  with  care,  the  facts  are 
seen  to  be  very  curious  and  significant.  The  experi- 
ments just  described  consist  essentially  in  evoking 
two  psycho-physiological  processes  which  have  noth- 
ing in  common,  such  as  reading  on  one  side  and 
repetition  of  a manual  movement  on  the  other.  In  the 
persons  experimented  on,  the  second  of  these  pro- 
cesses was  accomplished  better  when  accompanied 
by  the  first.  The  automatic  movements  of  the  hand 
were  only  distinct  when  the  subject  was  at  the  same 
time  reading  or  adding  up  figures. 

This  is  not  like  our  common  experience.  In  most 
cases  the  mind  cannot  do  two  different  pieces  of  work 
at  once  without  one  of  them  suffering  and  sometimes 
both.  I have  been  able  to  establish  this  as  it  were  de 
visu  in  experiments  I have  been  following  out  for 
some  time  on  the  conflict  of  states  of  consciousness. 
The  procedure  I have  employed — which  I shall  de- 
scribe at  greater  length  elsewhere — consists  in  making 
a person  squeeze  an  india-rubber  tube  rhythmically, 
while  reading,  or  adding  up  mentally,  or  the  like. 
The  india-rubber  tube  is  connected  with  a registering 
apparatus,  and  the  pressures  of  the  hand  translate 
themselves  into  a tracing  of  which  the  slightest  irreg- 
ularities can  be  detected.  Now  this  tracing  is  fre- 


DOUBLE  CONSCIOUSNESS  IN  HEALTH. 


87 


quently  irregular  in  the  parts  that  coincide  with  the 
reading  or  addition  •,  and  the  irregularities  are  the 
more  marked  the  more  difficult  and  complicated  the 
mental  labor  which  the  subject  is  asked  to  perform. 

This  result,  compared  with  that  which  I obtained 
in  my  experiments  on  automatic  movements,  is  soon 
shown  to  be  its  inverse,  and  apparently  its  contra- 
dictory. The  more  the  subject  is  distracted  (by  read- 
ing, mental  calculation,  &c.)  the  more  irregular 
become  the  voluntary  movements  of  the  hand  trans- 
mitted to  the  india-rubber  tube  \ and,  if  the  distraction 
is  very  intense,  these  movements  may  cease  com- 
pletely. On  the  contrary,  the  more  distracted  the 
subject  is,  the  more  regular  and  considerable  become 
the  automatic  movements  of  the  hand.  The  contrast 
is  quite  striking. 

I am  in  no  haste  to  generalize  these  results.  I 
only  state  what  took  place  in  my  subjects. 

The  explanation  of  the  difference  observed  between 
the  conditions  of  voluntary  movement  and  those 
of  automatic  movement,  however,  appears  to  me  a 
comparatively  easy  matter.  When  a person  is  asked 
to  do  two  things  at  a time — to  read  a book,  for  exam- 
ple, and  to  execute  some  manual  task — two  motor 
impulses  are  evoked  which  start  from  the  same  per- 
sonality, from  the  same  focus  of  consciousness.  For  it 
is  the  same  person  that  is  charged  to  do  the  two  things 
at  once, — to  divide  his  attention  and  will  between  the 
two  things.  This  coexistence  of  the  two  operations 
must  evidently  make  each  separately  less  perfect.  The 
more  attention  each  exacts  because  of  its  complexity, 
the  more  both  will  have  to  suffer  from  being  carried 
on  together. 

On  the  contrary,  when  an  automatic  action  is 


88 


ON  DOUBLE  CONSCIOUSNESS. 


evoked  in  one  of  the  limbs  by  a stratagem — when  the 
hand  is  forced,  for  example,  to  execute  certain  move- 
ments without  consciousness — it  is  not  the  conscious 
personality  of  the  subject  that  is  appealed  to.  His 
conscious  personality  would  only  interfere  in  the  ex- 
periment to  inhibit  the  movement.  This  inhibition 
we  avoid  by  turning  away  his  attention ; and,  if  there 
is  no  inhibition  when  the  person  is  distracted,  it  is  due 
to  the  same  cause  that  makes  him  unable  to  voluntarily 
squeeze  the  tube  with  regularity  when  he  is  distracted. 

Schematising  these  complex  relations  of  states  of 
consciousness,  I arrive  at  the  following  result.  In  the 
case  where  a person  performs  at  once  a mental  addi- 
tion and  a muscular  act,  let  the  first  operation  be 
called  a and  the  second  d.  Observation  shows  that 
each  of  them  is  prejudicial  to  the  other,  tends  to  inhibit 
it.  Let  the  automatic  activity  of  the  hand  be  called 
c.  There  is  in  each  subject  a power  to  perceive  this 
activity  and  to  suppress  it  by  holding  the  hand  motion- 
less. Let  this  operation  be  called  b.  The  operation 
b then  can  inhibit  c.  But  occupation  of  the  subject 
with  reading,  by  provoking  the  operation  a,  prevents 
him  from  inhibiting  the  movements  of  his  hand  ; that 
is  to  say,  a is  permitted'  to  inhibit  b,  and  this  prevents 
b from  inhibiting  c.  There  is  here,  to  use  a happy 
expression  of  M.  Brown-Sequard,  inhibition  of  a cause 
of  inhibition. 

% 

* * 

I wait  for  a future  opportunity  of  following  up 
this  interesting  line  of  study.  If  I make  known  my 
first  results,  it  is  because  they  bear  on  almost  normal 
subjects,  and  because,  consequently,  every  one  can, 
with  a little  attention  and  patience,  check  all  that  I 


DOUBLE  CONSCIOUSNESS  IN  HEALTH. 


89 


advance.  Perhaps  the  results  will  be  different  for 
different  persons. 

However  that  may  be,  the  observations  I have  just 
related  may  contribute  to  show  the  rather  embarrass- 
ing complexity  of  those  inhibitory  actions  which  psy- 
chologists have  only  begun  to  study  within  the  last 
years. 


-•-I" 


I 


